


Blade

by CoopPenny



Series: Tony's not... Normal [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Movies)
Genre: AIM - Freeform, Again, Child Abuse, Experimentation, Extremis, F/M, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hydra agents - Freeform, M/M, Mutant Tony Stark, Past Torture, Steve is Confused, Strong Tony, Tony Has Trust Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, and issues in general, like a really big one from everyone, more tags could be added, no one knows anything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-10 01:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6932593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoopPenny/pseuds/CoopPenny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark is eccentric, self-obsessed and has a 'who the hell cares' attitude. Everyone that thinks this is either and idiot or doesn't know a single thing about the genius.<br/>The truth is, Tony Stark is exactly the opposite but only his real family seem to know that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It Started

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be great!!!! I can't wait to get into this!!!  
> I'm making this up as I go along but I've wanted to write something like this for a while now, like it's killing me not to get all of these ideas out of my head!!  
> Anyway..... I hope you find this a good read!!  
> ENJOY!!

Howard hated mutants. There they are, just show up out of nowhere and claim themselves superior to normal humans. The ' _next stage of evolution_ '. Their an abomination. A disease that needs to be dealt with before people get hurt. Before people die. These people, these _mutants_ had the potential to take down an entire nation if they so wish it. They couldn't be controlled and they couldn't be contained.

All Howard could think was that if he got his hands on at least one of them maybe, _maybe_ , he could harvest this power and make a new generation of weapons. Ones that man-kind had never seen the likes of before.

Howard despised mutants for all that it was worth and he'd be sure to bring his son up that way. Stark men are made of iron and no mutant was going to best them.

So he gave lectures and comments on the mutants that had shown up on TV news but to little Tony, who was four at the time, could only describe the so called 'lectures' as rants. Tony didn't see the problem with them. They didn't seem scary or mean and they looked perfectly human and if anything Tony adored mutants as he saw them as real life super heroes.

It became quite a shock to him that no one really thought that about them. He voiced his opinion to his father and was rewarded with a slap to the face, Howard then walked out mumbling something along the lines of a pathetic son while Tony nurtured his reddening cheek. Tony didn't say anything about the mutants to his father after that and just ignored his fathers angry rants.

Tony watched as his dad got more and more frustrated with the idea of mutants and as Howard got more and more strict with him. He tried to manipulate Tony into believing his beliefs but all attempts left Howard seething with anger and Tony on the floor nursing a new bruise or cut that he had gotten through punishment.

When Tony made his first circuit board, he went to his father expecting praise and happiness but he got everything but that. Howard had looked at the carefully welded wires and then proceeded to throw and stamp on it. Tony could feel tears well up in his eyes as the picture of hugs, smiles and praises was destroyed along with his creation. Howard then gathered up the scattered pieces and shoved them into his sons chest, knocking Tony to the floor from the force of it.

He glared down at his son as he said, "Why don't you make something useful instead of making pathetic things." Howard kicked his son in the ribs before turning back to his work, not bothering himself to see if he did any real damage.

Having been winded, Tony stayed there and wheezed before he regained his breath and peeled himself off the lab floor and walked out. He had a thoughtful look on his face, his brain going about a mile a minute. That was when he realised that his father was a _very_ jealous man. Howard never hated the mutants, he was jealous of them, of their superior power. He was jealous of Tony because Tony was smarter than he was at that age. Howard seemed to want everything he couldn't have, like his search for Captain America.

Tony concluded that his father was so blinded by jealousy, he missed all the other cool things they had to offer.

At that young age, Tony swore he'd never be like his father.

At age five, Tony had become an excellent cook with the guidance of Jarvis, his butler, and dealing with weekly bruises his father gave him for his insolence and stupidity. 

After the circuit board incident, Howard had been thrusting odd projects under his nose and given specific deadlines which were almost impossible to meet. Howard had been getting more strict as he made new rules: 'No slacking off', 'No toys, they're for babies' and 'work for your keep or make it yourself'. This often lead to Tony taking care of himself as he was too slow to get the appointed projects done in time so he taught himself how to cook as to not starve to death. Unfinished projects ended with Howard's fists which caused more bruises but Howard was always careful to avoid the face.

Through all the beatings, Tony noticed that Howard had been drinking more and becoming increasingly violent. As the beatings became more frequent, Tony was tempted to look for protection but he could never look in his mother's direction as she only stands there. Every beating that she sees she makes no move to stop it, she just carries on as if everything was perfectly fine. She was always too busy to look out for him anyway, with all of her charity events. So he dealt with the beatings alone.

Tony was working on building a robot dog to help him around the lab as Howard refused to get him a real one. He'd programmed it with a code so it would be able to follow simple demands, kind of like a real dog. He was nearly finished but he only needed to tighten a few loose screws to make it operational.

Howard chose that moment to entire Tony's working space, red faced, stumbling and a bottle of brown liquid in hand. Yep. He was drunk. Again.

"Anthony, what did I tell you about working on useless and pathetic things?" he slurred as he eyed the robotic dog.

"I was jut making him so I can have a helping hand around the la--"

"Does it look like I give two FUCKS!?" He yelled and kicked the robot over making Tony flinch.

Tony was panicking now. He didn't like it when Howard was drunk, he became aggressive and violent at the smallest of things and the way he was crowding Tony, things were turning bad really fast.

He could only watch as Howard's fist made it's corse to his face. Tony's small and grease smudged arms came up to try and protect his face from the blow and scrunched up his eyes. He waited for the pain, for the force of it but it didn't come. Timidly, Tony opened his eyes and came to the sight of Howard's curled fist just mere inches form his face. He looked at the face of his father looking for an explanation but he was met with Howard's shocked and fearful face.

Confusion took over Tony's features before he was able to put it all together. It was him. He was stopping Howard's fist somehow. It was the sudden shock and realisation that made him release the mental hold he had on his father's fist. He looked up at his father and saw the haunted look in his eyes. Why wouldn't he? His son has turned into the thing he hated most in the entire universe.

"Dad--" but he was cut off with a back hand from Howard.

"You're no son of mine! You're a freak!" Howard screamed as he delivered more blows Tony's frail body.

Unable to speak over the pain Howard was inflicting on him, Tony curled up into a ball to lessen the pain but it didn't work as Howard proceeded to repeatedly kick him.

Tony felt his body breaking and bleeding from his father's beating. It felt like an eternity had passed before the beating stopped and only Howard's panting and Tony's small whimpering could be heard.

Tony's body was beyond recognisable as his limbs were positioned at odd angles and his entire form was a bloody mess. Tony could only feel numb as all sense of awareness was slowly leaving him. Tony knew that he was dying. It felt like he was slipping and he could only feel slightly at peace during the process. He stared at his sprained hand, which had smudges of blood and grease all over it, with half lidded and blank eyes; his vision coming in and out of focus.

He was getting ready to close his eyes for the last time when he saw a gold light dance across his vision. It was beautiful and warm. Tony couldn't help but smile at the light exhaustion and pain written clearly on his face. The gold light seemed to look sad as it crept closer to him; caution and care clear in it's movements. Tony welcomed the light and without a moment hesitation, it wrapped around Tony's body like a comforting hug.

The last thing Tony saw was a flash of bright beautiful gold before he faded into oblivion.

 


	2. Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter! Yay!!  
> I have to say that this chapter may be... disturbing is to put this lightly.  
> Even I'm weirded out by me!  
> ENJOY!!!

The only thing that could be heard was the constant dripping of water that echoed throughout the darkness of the room. Only a small crack of light could be seen under the huge metal door but it was not enough to illuminate the far corners of the room which were a beckon of darkness. The smell was bloody, stale and rotting. A single whiff would have any normal person gaging for clean air.

The conditions of that room were unthinkable and would drive any sane person to the brink of insanity if they spent more then a day in there.

Though, in the far, darkest corner was a child. His face was dirty and grim and his ribs could be seen through his tattered shirt. His hair was at odd lengths with clumps of dried blood clinging to the strands. His body was scarred and bruised with years of abuse and torture. And his once light and intelligent honey-brown eyes were now dim and tired.

The child did not know how long he'd been there but he could vaguely remember a bright hallway and soft cream carpet with a bone melting mattress. He could remember a man with blond hair, kind smile and soft features always in a sharp suit and white gloves. He remembered that he liked that man. Once. A long time ago.

He remembered the Monster as well. Before the Dark Room. The Monster was horrible and would smack the Child around. In his early days of the Dark Room, the Child remembered calling him 'Father'. The Monster didn't like it and repeatedly hit him until the Child could no longer move on his own. The Monster calls him a freak and doesn't want to be associated with the child. The feeling was mutual...

The Monster would hurt him and laugh at his pain and failures. Would laugh at his struggles and when the Monster's breath smelled funny he would laugh about others and tell the Child about life outside, about how he had faked a story and no one, not even his mother, doubted the Monster. The Child didn't think that he had a mother and he refused to believe the Monster's lies.

When the Monster's breath smelled funny, the Monster would call the Child 'Anthony'. The Child hated that name. The name was always quickly followed by unrelenting pain as the Monster beat him till the Dark Room's floor turned red and the Child was an unmoving and bloodied mess. The Child hated that name.

On the Metal Table, the Monster used to tell the child that it wouldn't hurt and that if he stayed still, it would go quickly. The Monster lied every time. The pain was excruciating and lasted an eternity while the Monster cut him and searched in him and stole things from in him.

The time on the Metal Table was the Child's worst memories. He didn't know what it was for but the Monster would talk about copying an x-gene. The Child didn't understand and he didn't want to listen to the Monster's lies.

The only time the Child felt calm was in the Dark Room. The darkness at first was haunting and scary but over time, the Child had become one with the Dark. The Dark was the Child's only friend and it always tried to cover the Child when the Monster came the hurt him. The Child couldn't help but think of the kind White Gloved Man when he thought of the Dark. The Child didn't know why but he never questioned it; it felt right.

Over time the Child started to question everything. Was it always like this? Is the Monster in the right? Do I deserve this? Did I really have a life before or was that a dream? Who's the White Gloved Man? Why was he so kind? Am I crazy? Is that why I'm here? What's the x-gene? Is that why I'm here?

At every turn, the Child started to question the Monster and his actions. The Monster claimed that with the Child's help he would be able to save people but now the Child is not so sure. Was it another one of the Monster's lies.

Boredom became the Child's greatest enemy and he'd often catch himself painting with the fresh blood from his latest wounds. The Child became restless. Always moving. In a constant need to question and learn. The Monster often grew mad at the Child's muttering and more beatings would follow. The Monster had said something about 'puberty' once but the Child brushed off the comment. The Monster was full of lies.

The Dark was still the Child's friend and the Metal Table was still the centre of his bad dreams, along with the Monster.

The Child grew since he was first brought to the Dark Room, he was taller and his fear of the Monster only grew into anger and the Child would find the courage to fight more often. The Monster always got what he wanted in the end but the Child would always have to be dragged or knocked out. The Monster was still stronger but the Child knew that if he continued to grow, he could one day beat the Monster and kill him. Only then would the Child feel safe.

In the Dark Room, the Child would think about a world with no Monster. Would his death be satisfying? Or was there something worse that could easily fill the Monster's place? The Child couldn't hold back a shudder at the thought. Someone worse than the Monster?

The Child didn't think that it was possible. The Monster seemed to think that the Child was stupid. He underestimated the Child. The Monster thought that the Child couldn't even speak as the Child refused to speak to him. The Child didn't wish to speak to the Monster yet.

Today was like any other, the Child was dragged to the Metal Table and the pain would start. It was only when the Child was thrown back into the Dark Room when the Child thought that the Monster had been getting increasingly violent with him. The Monster seemed to get angrier and the Child would go past the point of numb on the Metal Table. The Monster was getting harsher... frustrated, the Child concluded. The Monster was frustrated over something...

The Child had just finished painting the floor again when his door banged open, making him jump. He squinted at the sudden light but soon made out the shape of the Monster.

The Monster seemed to stagger as he walked into the Dark Room. The Child could see the that the Monster was influenced by the funny stuff that made his breath smell. That meant the Monster was looking for the Child, to beat him past the point of numb.

Glaring at the Monster, he saw him scrunch up his nose at the smell of the Dark Room and ventured farther into the Dark Room.

"Anthony~" The Monster drawled in a light tone and pulled out one of the Sharp Things that he used when the Child was on the Metal Table. The Child frowned at that. The Monster had never brought one of those in before. Something was wrong.

"Anthony~ Come out, come out where ever you are~"

The Child watched as the Monster neared his hiding place, the sharp thing poised as he prepared to used it.

"I now you're hiding you little freak!"

The harshness of the voice scared the Child and before he could stop himself, he jump out of the Dark and tackled the Monster. The Child had a moment to think that the Monster would surely kill him for this before he ripped the Sharp Thing out of the Monster grasp and jumped into the Dark again.

"YOU STUPID FREAK!! I'LL KILL YOU!!" The Monster screeched. Fear, the Child observed.

In a flash of instinct, the Child used the Sharp Thing to attack the Monster's legs from behind. The Monster howled at the pain as the Child slipped into the Dark again.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!"

Huh, that was a new one for the Child. No matter. The Child jumped from the Dark one last time and used the sharp thing to slice the Monster's throat.

The shouting stopped and the Monster's eyes were wide. Unbelieving and fearful. The Monster made a choked sound as the blood covered the Monster's front.

The Child stepped out of the Dark and faced the Monster, slitted green eyes cold and face blank as the Monster's eyes focused on him.

"Die Monster." the Child said in a cold and clear voice and watched with a small smirk as the Monster fell to the floor still choking with eyes wide.

The Monster would surely die and he wouldn't be able to hurt the Child anymore. Never again.

With a warm sense of relief, the Child left the Dark Room, for the first time, of his own accord.

He was free and the Monster would no longer be out to get him.

Free.

He was free.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay.... So I got a little twisted at the end...  
> A lot twisted.  
> Anyway, I hope I didn't creep you out too much with this chapter.  
> Update coming soon, Promise!!


	3. School for the Gifted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Finally, another chapter!  
> I'm so sorry for the delay but I've just finished my French Speaking Exam and hadn't been able to come up with a good chapter for ages!  
> But! With the results back I can finally focus on this!  
> ENJOY!

The details were very few and very shocking. Double murder of Howard and Maria Stark.

Both shot in the head, in the same place, in their own homes.

That was all the public was told.

Nearly 1 million people attended the funeral and a whole nation mourned their deaths.

Why wouldn't they?

To them, Howard was their saviour that sent their soldiers with high tech equipment and means to survive. Maria Stark was a constant face in any and all charity events. Both kind hearted and constantly giving.

But they didn't know anything behind the wide smiles and the iron gate of their home. They didn't know that the absents of Anthony was not due to a prestigious boarding school with excellent results that Howard had sent him to. No. Howard was a monster and all he did was lie and lie but only a few would know this and one of those few included his own son.

The nation was confused but understanding when they were told that Anthony was not going to be attending the funeral of his parents. 'He wishes to mourn in his own way' Obie had said to the press. But in reality, Tony was dealing with almost 10 years of captivity with Jarvis, who Tony had instantly become attached to and trusted.

It takes almost a year to help Tony coup with his captivity. A year of snarling at anyone new, paranoia and the spontaneous appearances and activeness of new mutations due to his fathers extensive experimentation.

That's another thing that set him off. His father. He refused to believe that Howard Stark was his father by blood. He got angry at the mere mention of him. He hated that everyone saw his as the mans son. Something to be proud of and show off to other people. He didn't want anything to do with that monster. Didn't want to be related to such a thing.

Jarvis was the only one aware of what went on. Tony's immediate trust in him got him talking about his fears of the 'Metal Table' and all of the experiments and tests his father his carried out. After theses sessions, Jarvis would be crying and hugging the boy he had grown to love in the 5 years he had known him before he disappeared. It was sickening to know that it had all carried out in the basement of their home. The room had been hidden away, behind a set of book cases at the back of the lab, but when Jarvis went to inspect it, he only found a clean boxed room. It looked too clean to have been occupied for nearly 10 years and, according to Tony, was so revolting that the stench itself was enough to make you gag. When Jarvis had inquired it to Tony, the boy had clamped up so he dropped the subject.

At the year anniversary of his parents death, Tony's mutations had grown to an impossible strength and Jarvis knew that Tony needed help in a way that he could not. Tony needed to interact with others, learn from others not just books, train his abilities all the while feeling safe and belonging.

Jarvis knew just the place.

 

\-----------

 

Charles Xavier was in the middle of a lesson when he felt a new presence on the edge of his school grounds. He felt that it was a child, around 15. The child was confused and hesitant. His name... Anthony Stark... He didn't know what to make of that. After all his father was very open about his hate for mutant kind, unless... Yes. Tony was a mutant and a strong one at that, he could feel his power just bubbling under the surface.

The telepath delved deeper into Tony's mind, intent on finding out when the boy found out about his power, only to reel back when he saw flashes of pain, blood and the boys father.

"Professor? Are you well?" One of the students asked, obviously concerned about his abrupt pause in his lecture and apparently he hadn't been able to suppress a flinch at Tony's vague memories.

"Yes, I'm very well but I feel that we will have another among us." he smiled at his class as he felt Tony make his way farther towards the building, "I will have to dismiss you. The matter is quite... tender." he finished.

With that the students filed out of the room while Charles contacted Storm to approach Tony carefully.

Charles watched the interaction through Ororo's eyes. Indeed, the child was wary and untrusting, repeatedly asking for him and saying that Jarvis said he could trust him. Tony's stance was drawn, muscles tense and eyes, with a tint of green, were darting left and right looking for every possible escape route.

"I will take you to Charles. I promise." Ororo said softly, noticing the boys unease.

"How do I know that you will?" Tony asked, bearing his teeth like an animal.

"Because I am just like you." She replied without hesitation.

"There is none like me." Tony growled, teeth and nails sharpening slightly. Very untrusting.

Xavier intervened before the situation could get any worse, he really didn't need a fight in front of the school for all the students to see.

" _Anthony--_ " Charles cut off as Tony violently flinched.

**_"Anthony~" Howard sang, swaying and dragging his feet._ **

**_Tony stayed in the corner of the Dark Room, petrified and alone, knowing what was to come but trying to prevent the inevitable for as long as he could._ **

**_"Come out you Freak!" the drunk man shouted while he swung his crowbar at the dark._ **

**_Tony couldn't suppress a flinch which jostled his injuries from earlier that day and made him gasp in pain, giving away his position. His eyes were wide and fearful and brimming with tears as Howard's eyes narrowed to where Tony was hiding._ **

**_"Ah~ There you are~" he sang drunkly before he swung the crowbar at Tony's prone body._ **

The memory cut off and it left both Charles and Tony gasping for breath while Tony clutched his side where the crowbar met in the memories.

" _Tony._ " Charles corrected quickly, " _Tony. My name is Charles Xavier. I need you to follow the nice woman in front of you. She will not harm you. Nor will anyone else you come across, in this school._ "

It took a moment but Tony finally complied. Fingers still lingering on his side as he followed the white haired woman into the school.

There were no further encounters in the hallways, all of the students in their classes.

Charles smiled at Tony, making sure that it held only warmth and friendliness, "Tony." he says out loud, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The boy only nodded then looked all around the room, eyes calculating as he searched for possible dangers, "You are safe here, Tony. There is no need to be guarded."

Tony just stared at him with unreadable eyes that were evaluating and was fierce enough to make any grown man freeze in slightly dreaded anticipation. After a minute or so, he spoke, "I know... but old habits die hard."

Just as Charles as about to reply to that, Logan barged into the office, attitude uncaring as he took in the situation. His eyes roamed over Tony briefly, recognition clear in his eyes. Logan then put on a snarling face as he growled, "What the hell's a _Stark_ doing here?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep! He's in school now!  
> The results of Logan's slip will be told in the next chapter which will come soon!  
> Promise!


	4. My Powers...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay! New chapter before weekend!!  
> It practically took me all week to get the right ideas together for this...  
> Be proud!! XD ENJOY!!

Logan's nose twitched when he caught a whiff of something familiar. Something unpleasantly familiar...

A Stark...

In the past, he'd had a few run ins with the Stark family and none of those encounters had been relatively nice so, as a warning signal, he grew accustomed to their family scent so that he could skip town or something to avoid them.

The resent Howard Stark was the biggest dick there was. He was a thriving, manipulative drunk (even more so than himself). But with the recent death of the bastard, the scent must be from his little spawn. Anthony Stark.

Logan bet that the Little Stark was the same as his Daddy. Pig-headed, drunk, two-faced, coward, basically every horrible name under the sun. All Stark's were the same, it was a common fact to him like the sky was blue. Why should this one be any different?

The manipulative and greedy streak in the Stark line is what got Logan's hackles rising. Little Shit 2.0 was probably there to boost the reputation of his company. He'd get more money if he had human and mutant buyers and then when he got what he came for, he'd turn around with a disgusted look on his face.

Yeah. That was a Stark that everyone knew.

So when the scent lead him to the Professor's office, he didn't hesitate to barge in and stop the bastard before the contracts could make their way to the table. He was greeted with the unimpressed face of the Professor, Storm's neutral expression and a kid that had messy brown hair and honey-brown eyes and no older than 15. Must be Stark.

Glaring at the child and putting as much disdain as he could into his voice, he growled out, "What the hell's a _Stark_ doing here?"

\----------

Tony didn't know who the guy was or what he was doing there but he used the same tone as the Monster did and that was enough to flip the switch. In that one moment, the scene in front of him faded and one horrible memory after another came forth.

He was no longer in the safety of Professor Xavier's office, no longer aware of his surroundings. He could feel the the sensations that had become unbearable over the years...

Cold.

Darkness.

Pain.

....The Monster...

He wasn't aware that his powers were going into a panicked and fearful survival mode.

Distantly, he could feel the shift in the he was in room, the warmth of the blue glow that engulfed his body and turned into a shield of pure energy. His protection. He could feel the objects starting to lift. His warning. And could feel his teeth and nails starting to sharpen along with his senses. His defence.

But none of that mattered. He could feel the awe, the confusion and the shock that drifted about the room. Those emotions were dangerous. Those emotions made the Monster think that he could do anything he wanted to satisfy his emotions.

The Monsters in the room were not heeding his warnings so he'd have to get rid of them before they took action.

Glaring at the people that were about to do him harm, he built up the energy in his body shield, preparing to blow it outwards like a small explosion and with the bad people down, he could make his escape. He was _not_ going back to the Metal Table.

As he was just about to take action a voice cut through the darkness that surrounded him and shadowed the Monsters faces in a terrifying way, making him stop.

The words were muffled but he could make out a man's voice and an English accent... It was strangely comforting so he concentrated on the voice. It was urgent but calm. Commanding but gentle.

Slowly, the room started to come back into focus and the light streamed into the office. He could see the faces through the darkness now but he only focused on one. The man had a kind smile, soft blue eyes and an aura about him that made him seem wise and trusting.

Then, he heard the voice, " _Tony. You are in no danger here. You are safe. You are in Westchester, in a school for gifted children, mutants like you and me._ "

The comforting words seemed to echo around his head. He focused on that. He was safe. He wasn't there. These people weren't Monsters. They were kind.... the kind man's name is Professor Charles Xavier and the white haired woman is called Storm.

Yes. He was safe. Jarvis said he was safe here. Jarvis wouldn't lie to him.

Taking deep breaths, Tony was able to calm down enough to hide his powers again. The animalistic features grew smaller and smaller until they could no longer be seen and the blue glow of the shield around him dissipated, energy fading out making the lights shine brighter.

The silence grew as the three occupants of the room just stared at him; the hairy man just plain out gawking at him.

Tony shifted and looked down at his shoes, finding them very interesting as he said in a small voice, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that..."

Silence was his answer before the hairy man snapped out of it, "What the hell wa--"

"Not. Now. Logan." Charles interrupted firmly, "Wait outside, please."

The man, Logan, was hesitant before he nodded to the Professor and left the room more respectfully than when he entered.

"You too, Ororo."

Storm nodded and shot Tony a small encouraging smile before leaving the room the same way as Logan did.

Tony shifted nervously. It felt like he was standing outside the principles office... well, if he ever went to a real school he thinks that this is what it would feel like.

"L-Listen, I understand if you--"

"You are welcome in my school Tony. I meant what I said before; you have a place here." The Professor interrupted in a reassuring tone before he changed to a more serious topic "I'd like you know what your powers are, if you don't mind."

Tony gave a timid nod before he spoke, "I think... I think I have empathy and... I can manipulate energy into doing what ever I want and technopathy... I _think_."

Charles frowned, confusion clear on his face.

"I..." Tony swallowed passed the lump in his throat, "Howard... gave, er, no, no. He _wanted_ to... copy... yeah, copy the X-gene. He-He thought that if he were able to copy it that maybe he could... extract it but... it only gave me..."

Charles could see the boy struggling with his words, could see the pain in his eyes and his hands clench and unclench in the wake of his nerves, "Tony, do you know my special ability?" at the shake of Tony's head, Charles continued, "Well, I have the ability to see into your mind. You don't have to say it out load if you don't want to."

Looking slightly relieved, Tony nodded his head in agreement.

Charles wasted no time in entering Tony's memories but in the span of a couple of seconds, Charles went from a calmed persona to a one of pain.

"Oh my god, Professor are you alright? I didn't mean to. Can I do anything? Should I get an adult?" Tony rushed out while his hands hovered around the Professor, wanting to touch but not so sure that he should.

"I'm..." Charles spoke, his voice trembling slightly before he calmed himself, "Your have extraordinary power Tony. A gift. No matter what Howard has said in the past, you are magnificent."

Tony smiled his gratitude but it was clear that he didn't quite believe the Professors words.

"We have a space for you, if you wish to stay and attend school here." he continued calmly, "Tell Storm that it's east hall, last door and she will take you there. Breakfast is at 6:45am, lunch is usually at 1:15pm and dinner at 5:30pm. If you miss those times then you will have to take a snack from the kitchen. Storm will tell you the rest."

With that, Tony nodded to the Professor stuttered out another apology and thanks before he picked up his duffle bag and headed out the door.

Charles heaved a huge sigh as he was left alone with his plaguing thoughts.

What he had just saw, was not anything that a child or adult should ever have to deal with. But what troubled him the most was the last memory Tony had of the place.

_**He saw a boy, hair uneven, skin almost black from the dirt and grit that clung to him and holding a bloodied knife that had just been used to slit the throat of his father who had been attempting to kill him after 9 years of experimentation.** _

_**The child came to a sudden halt, he's green feline eyes, cat like ears, a long sleek tail and blood splattered chest now visible in the glow of the moon coming through the large window.** _

_**The child stared at the dark figure at the end of the hall way, long tangled hair, dark clothes, what may be combat boots, a cloth of some sort covering half the mans face and a gleaming metal arm with a red star on the shoulder.** _

_**Curiosity was spiked instead of the fear that he knew he should be feeling; his body moving before he was even aware of it. Bloodied, scared and dirtied feet carried him over the unbelievably soft ground towards the stranger.** _

_**The stranger seemed to hesitate, pulling out his gun to aim at the child. But the child didn't stop like the stranger expected him to, didn't even flinch. Why would he? The child had never seen anything like it before.** _

_**Slowly the stranger holstered his gun again and removed the cloth from his face, revealing a strong jaw as grey eyes stared back at the child.** _

_**"What are you doing here?" the stranger asked in a dry voice.** _

_**The child was only a couple of feet away now, "I-" his voice cracked horribly from disuse, "I want to get out. I want to escape... Do you wanna come with me?"** _

_**For a second the stranger did nothing, blank eyes staring with just a hint of disbelief. Then in one swift movement, he crouched down so that he was at eye level with the child, "I have a mission to fulfil but I will clean your tracks for you, little one."** _

_**With that the man went down the hall that the child had just come from and disappeared, seeming to merge with the shadows that draped the large hall way.** _

_**The child hoped he would meet the stranger again...** _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES!! Charles is awesome and would do anything for a small person!!  
> And... does anyone know a specific name for controlling energy flow?


	5. In 5 years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is really long and by long, I mean that I've been working on this all week and only just got it finished... be proud of me!! ToT  
> This is generally Tony's 5 years at the school with everyone and what he does there and stuff...  
> ENJOY!!

Tony was not one to trust anyone. He was closed off, feeling threatened by the presence of all the other kids and emotions running high. He'd never met that many people in his life but his brain worked to remember them all by face and scent. The whole mutant staff was warned about Tony the day after he moved in, they were told of his past torture and his added mutations from the experiments done by his father and was told about the triggers that could set him off.

He settled well into his dorm room, only occasionally getting harassed by the odd student who had a thing or two to say about his 'family'.

~~~~~~~~~~

_Tony was in between classes, his 9 years of education missing due to his life before._

_He was about to make his way to Professor Xavier's study when he felt some hostile emotions coming up behind him. Tony shook it off, convincing himself that he was not in a dangerous place and that everyone was like him... well, kind of._

_He was just about to round a corner when he felt a pair of hands grab the hem of his shirt and shove him against a wall. Panic started to rise but he fought down his instincts, knowing that he'd get into trouble if he were to follow it. Timidly, Tony looked up to see two boys towering over him; one dark haired and the other one ginger. There faces were one of anger and twisted satisfaction matching their emotions perfectly._

_"So, they let a Stark in after everything your daddy said about us?" The ginger one sneered._

_Tony frowned at the boys disgust towards him, he didn't understand why these boys wanted to hurt him even though he was a mutant too. They were all the same... so why did this boy want to hurt him?_

_"I don't understand..." Tony trailed off, every now and then looking at the two boys like they were an equation that he couldn't solve._

_The brown haired boy punched him, striking true at the side of his chin and with enough force to turn Tony's head, hair covering his eyes in a messy fashion. The boy smirked at his accomplishment but he'd yet to realise that it may have been the worst thing he could do to Tony._

_"Aww~ You gonna cry now? You gonna tell on us like the little wuss you really are?" the ginger one taunted but the smug look on his face soon disappeared when he saw the look in Tony's eyes._

_Deep green eyes looked out from the shadows of his bangs. They were filled with fear and uncontrolled rage. What the boys didn't know was that Tony wasn't there anymore but trapped. Trapped in the pain and torment of his dark memories of the life he had lived only a year ago._

_"S-Stark? Stark, com'on we were just joking around." the dark haired boy said shakily as he tried to reach out to grab Tony's shoulder._

_This was apparently the wrong thing to do as Tony growled at them, low and menacing. He crouched low while his feline ears and tail came out showing his distress as his sleek tail twitched from side to side and his ears were held low against his head, sharp teeth replaced human as he hissed at the threats in front of him._

_The boys were now frozen in place by nothing more than the piercing gaze of Tony's eyes. Tony claws flexed before he gave a roar that sounded so inhuman that it could have been described as demonic. Then slowly, right before the boy's eyes, Tony changed. Sleek, black fur covered his whole body, thick whiskers moving with Tony's sneer and then he was suddenly on all fours climbing out of the pile of clothes. There stood, in all it's glory, was a huge panther that looked as if it was about it rip the boys apart._

_Tony growled again, slowly inching towards the boys with the light padded paws with deadly sharp claws extended._

_Finally, the ginger kid spoke up, his whole form trembling as much as his voice, "W-We-We're s-s-so s-sorry. R-Really. Pl-Please do-don't hur-hurt us... P-P-Ple-Please."_

_The only response they got was another growl, teeth showing slightly as a warning but before Tony could do anything a loud shout echoed throughout the corridors._

_"TONY!! STOP!!"_

_Tony winced at his sensitive hearing and turned to face the intruder. Logan. But he didn't look like the cool and hot-headed guy that would be forever smoking a cigar. He looked panicked and terrified. Terrified of...Tony._

_"Tony, look at me. You are not where you think you are. Your safe and these boys are not going to hurt you, okay? So, please, turn back..."_

_Frowning with as much confusion a jungle cat could express, Tony looked at his surroundings, taking in the pile of clothes behind him and his lack of normal height and the shaking boys standing in front of him, looking like they were about to wet themselves. Oh, look! One of them has! Eww! Tony scrunched up his nose in disgust._

_Deciding to look at Logan, Tony calmed his racing heart and slowly reverted back into the heavily scarred and naked body that Tony had been his whole life._

_Then, as quickly as he could, he dressed himself, finally presentable to see the Professor that would surely yell at him. Standing up and ignoring the two boys, who now had pale faces, Tony grabbed his fallen books and looked at Logan expectantly._

_Logan nodded at Tony, probably thankful that he he didn't have to take on a panther without harming it._

_"You three, to the Professors study. Now."_

_It was then an hour of the two boys claiming that it was Tony who started it all and saying that he should be expelled from the school. After their fake and exaggerated story, the professor then pointed out that Tony had a forming bruise on his chin and the CCTV cameras placed around the corridors catching what really went on._

_There were no more incidences after that._

~~~~~~~~~~

But other than a few mishaps, Tony was well settled with a few friends, a growing intellect and control of his powers.

Tony never seemed to stop as he read book after book on anything and everything; nearly reading out the whole library that was just below his floor. It was very rear to find Tony without a book in his hands and soon he was constantly reading science and engineering books, finding them of interest as it was based around one of his powers, he wanted to understand what it all was before he worked his magic. Shortly after, he was graced with a section of lab under the watchful eyes of Hank as random gears and mother boards would turn up in odd places around the school.

It had only taken a year for Tony to catch up with his age of education and probably a couple of months of hard reading to make him one of the smartest kids alive. The others found it impressive as Tony was able to remember everything he read. The learning helped Tony cope with his nightmares and flashbacks, able to prevent one by writing down random equations.

However, he still had to go to all the classes as he still needed to get better control of his powers and he couldn't leave school until he was 18 years old. At this time, Tony was still shy, still had flashbacks and was still an untrusting person.

It was only one afternoon that he began to show others what the real him was actually like.

~~~~~~~~~~

_It was a hot day and not even the open windows or the odd fan around the room could stop Tony from melting like a cup of friggin' ice-cream and it didn't help that he was bored as well. It was his science class with Storm and he knew all of that stuff anyway so it was kind of a waste of his time. He was situated at the back of the classroom reading a book about different car engines intently, his fingers twitching now and then with want._

_It wasn't until he felt a touch on his shoulders and a wave of hope that brought him out of his reading trance. He looked up to find Storm hovering over his shoulder with an expression close to desperation. Slowly, he looked around the class to find every other student looking his way, all of their emotions filled with expectancy._

_"What?" he asked Storm, feeling a little anxious with all the the stares drilling holes into him._

_"I'm really sorry Tony but can you please take over? An emergency came up..." Storm trailed off as she fiddled with her fingers nervously._

_About a minute passed before Tony registered what she was asking of him and then the panic started to dawn on him and his brown eyes widened in dread and fear. In a loud whisper he hissed, "What?! Why me?!"_

_"Because your the only one that knows about every radiation property and the magnetic spectrum. Come on, please?" she asked while giving him the puppy dog look, "It'll only be for a half hour, maximin. And if I'm later then then I've got a small lesson plan at the front for you to follow."_

_Heaving a sign, Tony looked back at his book and then at the pleading woman before he signed again, this time in defeat. Storm must have registered the sound as she instantly brightened and an emotion of content followed._

_"Okay," he finally said, "But you have to buy me a blueberry muffin and a double chocolate latte from Starbucks."_

_"Deal!" she said in absolute glee that has Tony's lips twitching in amusement. Storm then turned to the whole class as Tony stood up from his chair, "Okay, everyone! I have to go for an emergency and Tony is going to take over the class. I expect todays work all done or detentions will have to take place!"_

_And then she was gone and Tony was left with everyone staring at him with a mixture of emotions curdling in the air._

_Tony gave a nervous smile as he walked up to the front._

_The stare made him want to run away and hide but he knew that the whole class would be out for blood if he just upped and ran for it, leaving them with detentions. Plastering on a fake smile, Tony clasped his hands and asked the class in what hopefully was a strong and confident voice, "Do you know what Storm has told you so far?"_

_Soon, Tony was able to loose his nerves as he walked around the front of the class and explained the chosen topic, occasionally explaining it in a different way for the students that didn't understand it. He was able to enjoy himself as he joked and laughed with the class he was teaching, completing all of the work. It was all too soon as the bell rang, indicating the end of class and the start of a new one._

_Storm hadn't come back yet so he checked the plan and was happy when it explained that there would be an experiment demonstration on the rates of reaction with different elements._ This _Tony could have fun with._

_It was fair enough to say that it was completely Tony's fault that the whole thing blew up in his face, making his face black and his hair stick up. Tony thought that Storm would have laughed at the comical scene but she dragged him straight to Professor Xavier's office to explain his reckless experimenting. Apparently saying "They asked me what would happen if I used a bigger bit of potassium and I was curious to find out as well." would not save you from punishment which was a shift of science classes. He'd have to take at least two classes a week for two months. Tony didn't really mind. If anything, it was a bonus as he really liked teaching for some reason._

_After a while, Tony started to turn into one of the students favourite teachers. Some would even call him Professor T, no matter how many times he told them that he wasn't a real professor or had any type of degree yet._

~~~~~~~~~~

After that, Tony was able to show how much wit he had and was smiling more often. He was more confident and was able to put that into his inventions that he made for some of the little kids to try out.

although he still had to odd nightmare, Tony was fast healing from Howard's torment. Everyone could see this as he was more outgoing and gentle with the little ones and was able to easily banter with the older ones that were close to his age.

Xavier was definitely happy to see that Tony was healing from something that most people would hide from for the rest of their lives. Tony's humour was odd, mostly filled with sarcasm and nicknames and could sometimes be seen as offensive but everyone knew that Tony was kind and thoughtful and that he would never intentionally hurt anyones feeling. Well, they all could but everyone else just saw a spoilt rich kid that was rumoured to be an alcoholic due to his sightings in nightclubs when he had only been to one. Complaining that it was too loud and too cramped for his liking, Tony didn't want to go to another one.

But Tony didn't care what everyone else thought of him, didn't care for the rumours that were being printed on the headlines were a lie and didn't care if the whole world thought that he was a money abusing brat. As long as the people that really knew him didn't think of him like that then everything in the world was fine.

When he turned 18, Tony started to do his courses online and was near to earning his Masters degree in electrical engineering and physics. He was also thinking about trying to get a business degree and a medical degree, he had a feeling he'd need it in the future. He also got Logan to teach him how to fight but no one really knows how he was able to accomplish this.

~~~~~~~~~~~

_There was a sound of metal on metal as Tony neared to gym area in the lower levels of the school. The sound made him cringe a little but he carried on to the source of all the racket just in time to see Logan perform a high kick and take the head off of a robot._

_Logan was dressed in his usual garb with his hair gelled back and his stance square and strong. There was a moment where they both stood there, letting the silence flow over them like running water. Slowly, Logan turned around, eyeing Tony critically and he breathed in and out deeply._

_"What do you want?" he asked gruffly._

_Tony stood there with a mask of indifference as his gaze swept the room easily spotting the many broken robots on the floor round the animalistic man. Pushing himself off the wall, Tony strode over to Logan with a look mixed between determination and nervousness._

_Breathing deeply in preparation, Tony quickly turned into a silky furred panther and looked up at logan which could only be classed as begging in the most adorable way ever with big green eyes and a twitchy nose. Logan groaned as he tried to look away from the cute display but it was too late, he caught a glimpse and now Logan had no choice..._

_"Awwww," Logan breathed as he scratched Tony behind the ears which made Tony purr lightly which melted the Wolverine's metal encased heart. "Okay, okay! What do you want?" Tony made his eyes go impossibly wider and put his ears back as he gently nudged Logan's hand with his nose. This elected another loud and long groan from Logan, "Fine! Whatever you want, you can have it! Beer, cigar, my boot, anything!"_

_Just as quickly as he turned, Tony reverted back and Logan was greeted with mischievous brown eyes that seemed to sparkle with the success of his plan._

_"Really?" Tony asked but he didn't wait for an answer as he rambled on, " 'Cause I was thinking that maybe I- you could teach me how to -er- fight?"_

_Tony may have said it like a question but Logan knew that it was a plead. His eyes softened as he regarded Tony. Logan may look like he's willing to kill Tony for some piece and quiet on the mornings that Tony is still wide awake talking a mile a minute about a new project he's working on but, in truth, Tony was like his little brother. An annoying one at that but Logan couldn't help but bond with the kid over their similar experiences. Whenever Tony would have a nightmare, Logan was always his first option. It almost made him want to smile at the small teen that would peer round the door and settle on the other side of the bed._

_"Why'd you want to learn?"_

_"Well, I was thinking that if I was to take over_ The Company _then loads of people would want to take me for ransom or something like that? So I thought that maybe I could learn to defend myself without outing myself as a mutant." Tony rushed to say._

_"Wait, wait," Logan paused, trying to see if he heard this right, "You want me to teach you to fight... as in hit a guy over the head with your fist?"_

_Tony gave a hesitant nod at this before he added in a small and nervous voice, "And maybe some weapons too?"_

_There was a moment of silence that was broken by Tony, "I will follow you for days in my panther form. You can't resist the cuteness forever!" he declared it in a jokey tone but Logan knew that Tony would do it; he did it once before with Storm so that they could take the children to an amusement park._

_"No. There's no need for all that business." Logan said quickly, "I was just shocked..."_

_"So... you don't mind?" Tony asked, uncertainty showing in his voice._

_Logan gave a short nod before they set up a date for them to start and times on when they should meet._

_The next couple of months were for Tony to build up some muscle mass to have at least a little chance in a real fight. The exercises were hard and made Tony cry on one occasion because he was too exhausted and in pain to find the small piece of cloth. It was hard but he did it and then it moved onto learning some of Logan's moves. Their sparing sessions would be on reflexes and a couple of things that would be useful to a small person in a fight; so using your opponents weight and strength against them. The lessons were helping and about a half year into their training, Tony would already be classed as a capable fighter due to his fast learning qualities._

_What surprised them the most was when they moved onto the weapons part of their agreement (more like blackmailed with cuteness) and they found something that came naturally to him and it wasn't part of any of his mutations._

_"Knives are my speciality but I can't throw them," Logan explained as he held out a set of knives to Tony, "These are throwing knives. I want you to try to aim at_ that _target." he said as he pointed to the dart board on the wall a few feet away._

_Tony nodded as he picked up one of the small knives and threw it at the board, not really expecting it to strike true but as he looked up at the board he saw that he did exactly that._

_It was an hour later before the session was over and they parted ways for the night but each and every knife was flung threw the air and every one of them was a bullseye. He and Logan were shocked to say the least._

_The next day, they had asked Charles if Tony had developed farther mutations or if he accidentally missed one but the Professor had said that it was a natural talent that Tony could do._

_As they went down to the gym to do some sparing together, Tony was a grinning ball of energy as he bounced around the annoyed but secretly amused Wolverine._

_"You know, when I become an X-Man, I'm gonna make my blades and use them for battle and make sure that each one is perfect. Oh! That's what I should be called!" Tony exclaimed as he whirled to face Logan._

_"What?" Logan asked in his growly voice, honestly confused as to what Tony was saying due to his rapid-fire speech pattern._

_"Blade. For my X-Man name? I think Blade would suit me! I mean it's no Wolverine but it says that I'm dangerous and dangerously awesome-looking even if I had no powers." he said in a dramatic voice as he dramatically ran his hand through his hair._

_Logan chuckled at the display, "Sure, what ever kid."_

~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Tony was known as a friendly soul to all the kids, often referred to as their teacher but as he got older and Tony got more serious with his inventing, the kids liked to refer to him as their Uncle or 'Crazy Uncle Tony' some would say.

He got his name with the loud noises in his lab whenever someone walked by, metal clanging loudly or loud drilling and some had even heard Tony talking to himself as they've walked passed. Some of the adults had talked to the Professor about their concern over Tony's sanity (especially when Tony started spending night after night in the lab sometimes not seeing him for a week or so straight) but all Charles did was smile sadly and reassure them that everything would be alright soon.

It wasn't until four months of the strange behaviour that Tony came out of the lab with dark circles around his red eyes and slumped shoulders. Tony didn't say anything to the questions that the rest of his family had thrown his way but he trudged up to Storm, threw his arms around her in a weak hug and then started to sob his heart out. Everyone was so shocked that at first they did nothing but as the shock wore off, each and every one of them gathered around Tony and encircled him in one giant hug from all of them at once. After Tony practically cried himself to sleep, Scott put him to bed and then they all demanded an explanation from Xavier.

Tony had done four months of mourning after he went to his old Butler's funeral. They didn't know Jarvis well but they did know that he was like a father to Tony. So when Tony had gotten the news that Jarvis had died in a car crash caused by bad weather, he had gone to his funeral alone, inherited most of his possessions and had watched a video before he locked himself in his lab.

When Tony had woken up he had been happy and excited when they greeted him cautiously which was a concerning change from just the night before. Tony had lead them down to his lab where he greeted DUM-E, U and Butterfingers like they were human and then, with a smug smile, he called up to the ceiling with his deceased Butler's name. It would be an understatement to say then they were shocked when a British accented voice greeted them from seemingly no where.

At the age of 16, Tony had made DUM-E. His work driven by the new environment and untrusting paranoia and so he made the world's first AI. DUM-E didn't have the top most intelligence but as Tony had explained, it's a learning AI and as Tony was the creator, DUM-E felt an obligation to chase after anyone with a fire extinguisher in it's one hand to protect Tony. A year later, Tony had made his second AI. U could be described as slightly maturer than DUM-E and was an excellent companion for Tony as they'd strike up conversations with each other, Tony using a big brother voice as he spoke. No one knew why, until he made his third AI when he just turned 18.

~~~~~~~~~~

_Tony could be heard off in the distance as Storm neared his personal lab area. He appeared to be in conversation with someone, but as she peered around the corner, she saw Tony with his robots yet again._

_"Right. So this is called a spanner and whenever I'm underneath a car and can't reach it, DUM-E, I need you to get it for me." he explained as he held up said tool. "No, that's a screw driver." he then said while chuckling slightly._

_Storm felt her throat tighten as she watched the interaction. It pained her so much to see that Tony still didn't trust them enough that he felt the need to converse with his robots like they were his friends. The child had gotten so much better around others over the years though and he was teaching classes and having regular conversations without being wary all the time. This shouldn't be happening anymore._

_As she stepped out from round the corner, she came into view of Tony. Her smile wavered as she saw him smile brightly back at her. Was that smile a lie of his true feelings? Was he still hiding from them?_

_A frown replaced Tony's smile. Concern. "Are you alright Storm?"_

_Fighting back tears, Storm said in a soft voice, "Tony, you can always come to me when you want to talk. You've always known that, right?_ _"_

_She could feel Tony fidget uncomfortably in her embrace before his hands came to her shoulders to draw her back so they could see each others faces. "Storm, I know that... I've known for years now, okay?"_

_"Why are you talking to your robots instead of coming to me or someone else?" she asked, c_ _uriosity colouring her voice._

_"Because they can talk back?" he said as if she was being stupid but also trying to be polite about it._

_There was an awkward pause before Storm completely drew back from the embrace, a confused frown making small creases in her face. "W-What do you mean Tony?" she asked cautiously because he could be crazy for all she knew (well, it was general knowledge that Tony was crazy but this could mean he's crazy in a bad way as well)._

_"I think it's to do with one of my mutations," he said enthusiastically, a huge smile lighting up his face and making his eyes sparkle, "Me being a technopath so not only can I understand what goes where but I can also understand my AI's! It's so awesome!"_

_As he was pouring out theories and speaking in his excited voice, which was three miles per minute, Storm was standing there blinking at him._

_He wasn't crazy... He was perfectly sane and he was happy to be here with them._

_"Of course I'm happy here! You guys are my family..." he said with a small, timid smile and then finding his shoes extremely interesting._

_At that moment, Storm could have sworn that her heart swelled in her chest as she heard those words. She could feel her eyes start to fill up with tears of happiness as she brought Tony back in for a fierce hug._

_Later that day, They were in the Professor's study and talking about Tony's progress in his powers and that due to his strong mutations that he could develop some secondary mutations such as telepathy, though not as strong as his other mutations._

~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 They all knew that the day would come when Tony would have to leave but it sure didn't make it easier for them to say good bye to the once paranoid and closed off boy that had become this outgoing, cleaver and good hearted man. But once Tony's 21st birthday came around, that was exactly what they had to do.

He had a big party with everyone that Tony considered family, which was everyone in the school, and celebrated his birth and that he was still alive even after everything that he'd been through.

Tony could hardly find the right words for when it came for him to say goodbye to the people that had become his family and friends over the years. He almost didn't want to go but he knew that he had to.

The party was finished and it was time to go to inherit his company in New York City but as he was hugging everyone goodbye, Professor Xavier rolled over with a small, kind smile and a white box in his lap.

When Tony opened the box, he was shocked to find an X-Man suit folded up neatly with a mask on top. As Tony held up the mask, he saw that the mask was jet black with a tinted black strip that allowed you to see partially inside. Scott had explained that Tony would be able to see clearly outside and that he could tint his eyes a green colour and that the whole suit was made for when he was partly changed.

With a promise that he'd visit at least twice a week to teach his class, Tony was off to take over his company.

His suitcase in one hand, his bag of presents in the other and three robots in the vehicle behind, Tony was in the car and driving away from the only home that he had ever known.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's he gonna do now?!  
> *dodges book*  
> Hey now! There's no need for violence!  
> *Throws another book*   
> I swear to god I will karate chop your face!  
> *Throws stapler*  
> Right! I'm not trained to deal with staplers! SEE YA!
> 
> I'll be done with the next chapter soon! And I will be Tony and the X-Men in later chapters ; )  
> Update soon, I PROMISE!


	6. To make a friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I haven't done an update in a while but it's here now and it's taken me all day to finish!

When Tony gets to the space that he would work in everyday, he knew that he would hate this. It was an empty room, only a large desk and overly expensive chair that had Howard's name all over it occupied the room. Their were no pictures or little trinkets to show that a human was supposed to stay here with every available surface spotlessly clean and light through the unnecessarily gigantic windows that left no room for privacy from neighbouring buildings and the height it showed was too great for his liking.

Yep, absolutely hated it but he didn't really have a choice in the matter. He'd have to buckle down and work through thousands of sheets of paper work and do exactly as the board said, apparently his reputation was already tarnished as a playboy as he'd had sex with a million girls already and lost his virginity at the age of 13... Tony didn't think they'd believe him if he said he was still a virgin and had only been to a handful of parties in his life and that he wasn't really seen as a human at the age of 13, more like a lab experiment... Yeah, they'd never believe that.

Tony glowered at the fancy desk and chair before he walked out of the room. He was not working in that room, he just couldn't do it! He'd rather be a mechanic than do any of that crap the board would have him do! R&D department it was!

"Excuse me, Mr.Stark! Where are you going?"

"None of your business!"

Okay, he knew he shouldn't have yelled at his new personal assistant but he was already having a bad day and he really didn't want to tell her because he already knew that she was a spy of that _Obadiah Stane_.

A chill ran the length of his spine just by _thinking_ about the man! He was creepy and Tony didn't need to feel his emotions to know that the guy was twisted to the last cell in his body.

A few hours earlier, before the the bland office and the mind numbing oldies, (that, Tony knew, only cared about money and so wanted to brush him aside while they stuffed their pockets) Tony had arrived at New York City, at the foot of the intimidating tower and was met with the face of Howard Stark's partner in crime. Obadiah Stane.

The man had a balding head and the majority of his hair was snow white, with a few specs of brown here and there. He looked like one of those fat cats in cartoons that walked down the street with a swagger in their step and flashing their tailored suits off to the poor people on the streets. This man certainly looked like he was on top of the world and Tony got the impression that the man was trying to prove that he was better with the way he looked down his nose at Tony and looked at his normal clothing, jeans, shirt and hoodie, in mild disdain.

His smile was oily and looked to be a promise of death as he directed it at Tony. This was just the man's looks! His mere emotions were sickly sweet and had an undercurrent of something sinister to it that made Tony want to blanch and hurl into the nearest bin. He could feel the greed and the anger and the annoyance as the man stuck out his hand and gave him a bright smile that was supposed to be warm and welcoming. Passive aggressive much.

From this day forth, Tony knew never to trust this man. _Ever_!

As Tony entered the the lab space, everyone that was in there, immediately stopped what they were doing and stared. It was like they were trying to comprehend what he was doing here or who he was. Tony just shrugged off the looks, tied his jacket around his waist and brought up a new project. He was just about to settle down and start typing but stopped to look pointedly at the pairs of eyes that were still trained on him. Only then did they get back to their own work. He was going to need a private lab as well, especially if this was going to happen every time he stepped foot in a local part of his building.

His building...

He owned a god damn building... and a couple of mansions on the coast.

Well... They weren't going to be his for long, he'd just donate them to charities to serve as hostels for the homeless or rehab homes. Tony was going to make his own home, one without Howard's imprint on the work. He was going to make it bright and welcoming not dark and sinister like Howard seemed to favour.

He'd also need some private help to order both his jobs. He'd have to invent projects and such, and work to find better openings to change the companies direction; from weapons to safety programs; he couldn't completely abandon their American boys now could he? Tony knew he couldn't outright close down the weapons division either so his best option was to slowly ease it out. Also he had lessons to plan at least two times a week and books to mark as well as homework's to check and respond to. He was defiantly going to need help.

Good thing he already had a companion for this!

 

JARVIS was going to be with him every step of the way, learning and growing along with the other bots!

Tony smiled as his fingers speed over the keys on the board, line after line appearing before him as he wrote down every idea in his head.

He had a lot to do and a lot to change, including a whole legacy that Howard had made for the company, but he'd get through this one day at a time and with the help of his family he'd survive this world and hopefully he'd leave it changed for the better.

 

\-----

 

Virginia Potts was an odd woman. Not odd like she has permanently crazy, untamed hair with bird poop and cats hanging off of her ripped clothing, no. She was odd as in brilliant.

What really surprised Tony was that the woman was greatly overlooked. Passed off as a lower employee that went to a good school and got lucky in an interview. Tony had even heard someone say she was sex on legs (that man had been instantly fired for disrespecting a fellow employee). From a distance, Tony could see the fire in her personality and emotions as bright and fiery as the professionally tied hair on her head. She was brilliantly organised, that much could be seen from her very desk and she could deal with any kind of person and problem like she'd dealt with it a thousand times before.

This woman may not be extremely high IQ smart but she was smart in day to day things with negotiation techniques and skills like Tony had never seen and she had a spine like titanium. So, for the life of him, Tony couldn't figure out why she was a simple desk lackey and not somewhere else!

He needed to get to her before Obadiah corrupted her or she quite because of office disrespect. No matter how hard Tony tried to prevent offence or disrespect in a work space, there was only one of him and sometimes people just don't feel the need to report things. He also couldn't just fire anyone that sent an emotion of lust her way but he did fire those who were extremely sexist or racist. There'd also been a lot of complaining about Tony's change in rules where mutants were allowed to be employed as well.

After he'd come in control, he had told the world that the no mutant policy in his company was completely scrapped and never to be brought up again. After all, it didn't matter if they were different sex, colour or had powers because if they had the interest in working towards a better future and had the brains to do it then they were welcomed into his company just like any 'normal' person would be.

Some people had protested strongly against it and others had simply shrugged it off, the mutant community were overjoyed at this and Tony had offered Hank a place for his area of expertise but he denied the offer for the time being. Tony just wanted to see the leader of the Brother Hood's face when it was apparent that Tony was going in the opposite direction of Howard's footsteps.

Anyway, back to the problem at hand: Tony knew that he would have to find a way to get her alone. And that's when a brilliant idea came to mind!

This brilliant idea of his nearly got him a face full of pepper spray...

"Wait! Wait! I wasn't going to do anything bad!! Please! Spare me!"

Okay... so he was a little dramatic so to speak...

"Mr.Stark?!" the red head shrieked in shock, "What the hell are you doing in my mothers house having tea with her on the couch?!" she then hissed at him, finger still on the pepper spray trigger.

"Well, actually, I was having coffee-- Okay! I'm sorry! I just needed to speak to you!"

"Then why couldn't you have called me in at work?!"

At this, Tony put a finger to his chin and he thought of why he had ever thought this was a good idea. There wasn't any.

"I know I had a reason but I think it was lost when your mum made me some awesome chocolate chip cookies... But I really do need to speak to you."

Virginia groaned before she finally lowered her pepper spray and looked at the incredibly young CEO of the company she worked for in exasperation. She had never met the new CEO but she now knew why all of his PA's quite within weeks of accepting the job.

"Mr.Stark--"

"Tony."

"What?"

"Tony. My name is Tony. None of this Mr.Stark business, this is out of work hours so..."

"Tony." She tested and she knew that it sounded a bit weird in her tongue. "What did you want to talk about that was so important that you needed to go to my mothers house, have cookies and tea with her and have her call me up that a guy that claims to know me is in her home?"

At this point, his cheeks were a little red from embarrassment and his hand was now rubbing the back of his head while he avoided eye contact with the woman like the plague.

"W-Well, I-I was wondering if... er... wouldyoutakethejobasmyPA?"

Virginia blinked at the jumble of words that had just come out of the young mans mouth. She was now impossibly more confused than she was before and she really didn't like the start of that sentence and she was afraid how he was going to finish it.

"Pardon? I didn't quite get that last bit."

"W-Would you take the job as my new PA?" he stammered out, not at all acting like the bold, larger than life billionaire that the media portrayed him to be. Then the words hit her and the rumour that the new CEO sleeps with his PA's before he dumps them by firing them came to mind. A sad way to end a career.

"Why would you want me as your PA, if I may ask?" she asked suspiciously.

"First off, your really smart in negotiations and sorting out difficult situations and your really scary sometimes so you could ward people off at will." he quickly explained.

Virginia opened her mouth to say something before she caught onto the last part and paused. Scary? Would he really find that attractive in a woman? And all thing things he'd just explained were... actually good business qualities.

She seemed to think this over for a couple of minutes before she narrowed her eyes at him and folded her arms while she leaned into one side, she then asked, suspicion colouring her tone, "Your not hiring me for my body, are you Mr.Stark?"

"Tony. And what? Your body?" he asked, completely bewildered.

"Your not just interested in me for sex, are you Mr.Stark?" she forced out more loudly with her eyes more narrowed than before.

And that's when Tony finally understood the woman's burning suspicion. Someone must have caught him flirting with the last one. In his defence, he was trying to see if sex was on her mind while in the work space because if it was then she needed to go. As it turned out, she was only interested in sex and not the job so she had to go...

"What?! No! I'd never-! Why would you-?! I really am offended, Miss Potts, I would have thought that you'd know better than to think that any rumours are true." Tony frowned, only slightly upset that she'd think so low of him as well.

"So do you want the job or not?" he finally asked after a moment of silence.

At the woman's nod of acceptance, Tonys face visibly brightened and said, "Great! See you tomorrow at 8 in my office and then we can sort out some stuff." with that Tony was heading to the door with Virginia hot on his heels.

"Thanks for the coffee and cookies, Mrs.Potts, they're the best I've ever tasted." he called back to the elderly woman before he was at the front door once more. Virginia's mum only smiled brightly before sending him off with a cheery wave and goodbye of her own.

Just as Virginia was about to close the door on the young billionaires retreating back, she heard the low mutter of, "I don't even like girls like that, seriously." and then he was gone.

She came in the next day and went straight for Mr.Starks office where she took the job, curiosity powering her decision and try to find out what kind of man Tony Stark really was, behind the masks and the rumours.

Tony grinned as he felt these emotions. He'd chosen well.

"I think this is going to be an interesting couple of years, Pepper."

Before she could question him about the odd name, Tony was down the hall and heading for his private lab.

 

\-----

 

Tony had uploaded JARVIS to the computers and cameras around his company tower almost immediately but it had taken Tony a month or so to instal some mikes around the building so that JARVIS could talk when he wanted and Tony could talk to the AI and was able to be heard perfectly fine.

It'd also been a month since he'd promoted Pepper (she still didn't know why he'd chosen that nickname for her) and around half a year since he'd been named as the big CEO of Stark Industries and they were about half was through the school year. Pepper still had no idea that he had a side job of teaching in a mutant school and she never asked why he disappeared on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays as long as he got all his work done in time.

JARVIS was a god send as he did the math and sums that Tony would have done himself, leaving him time to mark books and enable him to teach his classes in time and visit his family. They all seemed very pleased with the way he was leading the company, though, he has a feeling they would have been proud with any decision he made. He gave the kids some prototypes to mess around and test out with and he still loved the fact that they called him 'Uncle Tony' sometimes.

Obadiah had the sense to leave him alone, only coming in to see how he was doing though, he seemed to frown at the fact that hardly any weapons littered his desktops like he thinks they should. Instead, he worked on improving bullet-proof vests and other things for protection which the military were happy to have and other little gadgets like phones or flat screen computers. Tony had even caught the man glaring at his coffee mug that said: 'make love, not war', which, to be honest, Tony had put there on purpose.

Tony was also getting his drawings up for his house along the coast in Malibu, big enough for an underground lab and parking space and enough rooms for his family to visit for a holiday or the kids to have a field trip at for Geography classes. His house should be finished in less than a year and he was going to help in building it too, he had a degree in architecture after all.

Today was just a normal day in his lab, him speaking with JARVIS and telling him funny stories of his family and watching his bots play out of the corner of his eye so he knew if any of them pulls our a blow touch again and fire it up (cough cough DUM-E). He was messing around with some of his classes papers when Pepper walked in to the lab.

"Hey, Peps!" he called with a bright smile before he looked up at her and then, his smile fell.

The woman that stood there wore Pepper's clothes, wore her hair, her smile and wore her ridiculously high heeled shoes. But this woman... She wasn't Pepper. Peppers emotions had a slight spice to it to go with her personality and they were always warm but this person had cold emotions, no spice was to be felt but a bitter sweetness was there instead like an old fruity wine.

"JARVIS! Shut down all communication devices and lock down the lab, close the blinds and sound proof it!" Tony quickly ordered at he jumped over a workbench to put distance between himself and the imposter.

"Should I call for assistance, Sir?" JARVIS asked.

"Its fine, I can handle it, J, thanks." Tony reassured as he looked at the woman who still had Peppers face but was now frowning in innocent confusion.

"Tony?" She asked in Pepper's voice.

"I don't know you." he stated, "Who are you?"

"What do you mean?" she tried to take a step closer but at his step back, she stopped where she was.

"What did you do with Pepper?" he growled out, he could feel his eyes glinting green in his anger but it looked like the imposter missed it as they showed no reaction.

"Tony," she tried to laugh through her nervousness, "Stop joke--"

"Your. Not. Pepper." he spat out before he said, "What did I say to you when I left your mothers house the first time?"

At this the woman narrowed her eyes looking like she'd finally given up before she went into a relaxed posture and put on a smile that showed off too many of her teeth. It started with her eyes. They changed from warm blue to a bright amber yellow. Then her skin changed. Scaled blue replacing smart clothes and soft pale skin. In the space of a few seconds, the woman in Peppers skin was now a very naked blue woman with bright orange hair and yellow eyes, teeth flashing a pearly white.

He knew exactly who this woman was.

"What do you want?" he forced out, eyes trained on her for any sudden moves.

"Oh, Mr.Stark," she said flirtatiously before she puffed out her chest and leaned back against one of his work benches; trying to seduce him, "It's not me who is curious."

Tony glowered at the woman, trying desperately to keep his powers hidden from Mystique, Magnetos right hand mutant.

"If you've come to pick fights, you've come to the wrong tower. I am _not_ your enemy." he could feel his finger nails and teeth trying to grow in anticipation of a fight.

It was at that moment that his door opened up and in strolled the one and only Magneto himself in a button-up shirt and a dark coat that went to his ankles with a hat upon his head instead of his usual helmet and cape that were nowhere in sight. Behind the old man, Tony could see the metal locks being put back into place. Now Tony was locked in with two dangerous mutants that may or may not know that he was one as well.

"That remains to me seen, Mr.Stark." he hummed then smiled at how tense Tony had become.

"What. Do. You. Want." he gritted out, wanting to run and hide from the emotions the man was giving off; anger, clam, sadness, accusation and curiosity.

"Well," he chuckled, causing Mystique to smirk with him, "With everything your Father had done, is it really a shock?"

"My- Howard," he refused to acknowledge the man as anything other than a name, "Was a cold, jealous old man that was a _Monster_ in human form that no one else saw but me!"

Talking about the man now still made him angry, what that man did to him was unforgivable. Something must have shown because both mutants smug faces was suddenly gone as they stared in shock at Tony. More specifically, at Tony's eyes.

There was only silence that followed before Magneto, how now wore a grave expression of understanding, asked, "How long?"

Tony didn't need the man to explain what he meant. 'How long was he experimented on?', 'How long have you suffered by his hand before you got away?'. Tony felt his canines elongate as well as his nails as he thought back to the years where he had forgotten even his own name to the darkness he was permanently kept in.

"9 years." he growled out.

The emotions that swirled around the room had gone from menacing joy to cold realisation and horror though it didn't show on their faces.

"Thank you for the _wonderful_ memories that you've brought with you." he said with sarcasm and an edge of anger after the silence had stretched on for too long and he just wanted them to leave, "Now if you'd be so kind as to never bother me again, that'd be _great_."

His cheerfulness was like a slap to the face as they both moved out, disappearing through his door with one last mournful expression at him and hopefully to never be disturbed again. He had enough problems as it was without the Brother Hood on his tail for what Howard had done to the mutant community. It'd only be natural for their hate for Howard to be redirected at him. The sins of the Father are the sins of the Son.

Tony waited a couple of minutes to get his anger under control with deep breaths, through his nose and out his mouth before he told JARVIS to open it all up again and that he was done for the day. He then called Pepper's phone to find that she was alright and had gone home already.

That night, Tony went home to his family with tears in his eyes and could only hug back when Storm held him. He told the Professor what happened and then settled down for the night in his panther form, taking in the soft scratches behind his ears and through his thick coat before he finally drifted off to sleep with the warm bodies of his family surrounding him.

The next day, the Professor told him that Eric and his little fan club would not be disturbing him anymore so long as Tony kept out of the way as well.

 

\-----

 

If Tony were to be honest, he was a little offended by the sheer shock that appeared on the mans face when Tony asked to help in the making of his own house. He knew how to wield a blow torch and he was strong enough to hold up a beam just like any other builder. At least the man said okay, nodding dumbly is still a yes, and Tony got changed into some more appropriate clothes and started to help.

That in itself caused even more shock. Tony guessed that they never expected a smart person to be so well toned or a rich person with clothes so old and worn. The initial shock wore off and everyone started to work with him like one of them, especially when they saw that he was actually capable of doing everything correctly. Tony had lunch when they did and drunk an abnormal amount of plain black coffee which had caused one of the men to say something once.

"Hey, Stark!" one of the burly men shouted over, large grin on his face, "We don't have no rich coffee here, only black!"

Tony grinned back as he shoved the man playfully in the shoulder, "Coffee's coffee, doesn't matter if its fancy or not but black coffee's my favourite."

Tony had basically earned the respect of every man on that construction site by the end of one week. They'd never seen a celebrity of any sort wanting to get their hands dirty or wanting to mingle with the normal people that had a normal amount of money and normal lives.

By the about 9 months and a half, he had made his house from scratch and as a thanks, Tony had given a generous tip to the builders and said their farewells as friends. Tony knew that they'd never look at another newspaper headline the same after they had gotten to know him.

His new Malibu home had a beautiful view of the ocean. It had a futuristic look to it, full of glass and white walls with a unique structure to it. The space was big enough to hold his mutant family and had a lab space big enough that his garage and small collection of cars could fit in it as well. Cameras and mikes were installed throughout the entire space and the bots had all the space they could ever want and could roam about it all and play. And it had a huge gym for him to work out in private as well as a space to mess around with his powers.

He walked into his new underground lab that was bright with glass walls and glass panels for his holograms that he was in the middle of testing out and took in that new lab smell.

Right then, DUM-E rounded the corner with excited beeps and whirls:

"It's so big! Is this whole space ours?"

"Yep!" Tony popped the 'p', "It's all ours. No more sharing with those grumpy engineers though I still can't believe that you doused them with the fire-extinguisher." he chuckled at the memory.

"Yeah, well, they deserved it!" he stated defensively before he mumbled, "Shouldn't have called me a dumb robot..."

Tony rolled his eyes before he bent down to the bots camera and smiled at him brightly while he tapped the hand, "I would have done the same thing, so it looks like you learn from the best then, doesn't it? And I got you a present~"

The bot instantly brightened and started to whirl it's three pincher hand in excitement, "Oh! Oh! What is it?! Show me!!"

Chuckling, Tony presented the fire-extinguatier that had the letters in clear bold 'DUM-E' along the side of it. The bot was quiet as he seemed to peer at it with his camera before he's arm bobbed up and down and he wheeled around in even more excitement and squealing like a happy child as he went.

"Oh my god! Thanks Dad!"

Everything seemed to go quiet as Tony froze and stared at his first bot in shock. Because never before had Tony been called 'Dad'. DUM-E seemed to realise this too and the others had gathered around in the sudden exclamation.

"W-What did you just call me?" he asked, quite breathless.

"I... I called you Dad. And you are a Dad and your the best Dad we could ever ask for! And I'm never taking that back!" he declared.

Tony looked at the others to find them agreeing with DUM-E. He was completely shocked. Tony knew that they were smart and that they were learning AI's but Tony had never figured that they ever thought of him as ' _Dad_ '! Sure he taught them all the tools and he let them help him whenever they asked and he always let DUM-E control the fire-extinguitior because he liked to play with it and use it when ever he thought that Tony would be set on fire... They couldn't possibly see him as a suitable father figure!

"Sir, if I may?" came the robotic British accented voice from the ceiling, "I realise that you may not quite understand that ever since you have made us, you have taught us and amused us and talked to us like we are not simple creations or robots to be commended back and froth but you have showed us the complete opposite by treating us like we are alive and have emotions. In the years that I've been with you, Sir, I know that you have a kind heart and I'd be happy to acknowledge you as my Father."

By the end of JARVIS's little speech, tears were welling in the corners of his eyes at how smart they had become and how much they'd grown and he realises that he can say that he truly does have kids of his own.

"Aw, J," Tony sniffed and chuckled as he wiped away the tears that had escaped his eyes, "Your making me blush."

With that, his bots circled around him like a makeshift hug and was on their way once again, playing and chatting excitedly amongst themselves.

"Thanks, J, you should know that your not just creations to me just like I'm more than a creator to you."

It was a very discrete 'I love you' but he was sure that JARVIS got it all the same.

 

\-----

 

By the time Tony had met James Rhodes, Tony was settled onto his new home with his bots running free and the golden sun doing wonders for his stressed and tense muscles, Tony felt like he was already going grey despite his young age of 21 years. Half the school had already come down for a visit, Logan having gone straight for the fridge for a beer only to come out with a face that resembled a pout before he shoved the non-alcoholic beer to Tony's chest. Tony had never liked drinking.

It was when Tony was lounging about in the sun, his panther black fur soaking up the rays like a sponge but his delightful lounging and generally laziness was interrupted by JARVIS announcing someone coming towards the door that was not Miss.Potts.

Quickly, Tony changed into his human form before he answered the door making sure that all his clothes were the correct way round and that he hair was a little presentable. But when he swung his door open... and came face to uniformed chest. looking up, Tony saw the blank faces of two military officers, one higher ranking than the other.

"Mr.Stark," the old one greeted with a nod, "May we come in?"

"Sure." Tony mumbled as he stepped out of the way and allowed the two men in. The old one walked passed into Tony's home like he damn well owned it but the other, maybe in his late 20s or early 30s, gave a smile smile to Tony before he asked whether he was supposed to take his shoes off or not. Tony returned the small smile with a bright genuine one and offered the man in with much enthusiasm.

Two seconds was all it took for Tony to decide that he liked the man.

"So... What can I do for you..." Tony trailed off in hopes that they'd fill in the space.

"I am Major General Franklin West." the old one introduced, he then gestured to the other behind him, "And this is Colonel James Rhodes."

Tony gave a nod and a wink to the younger one getting a slight blush on dark cheeks in return before he turned back to the older one and asked, "Is there a reason your here?"

"Colonel James Rhodes is to be your new liaison for the military. I hope you two can get along." he said before he turned to the younger man and said something which the other nodded to. With that, Major General West was out the front door, leaving behind the straight backed Major that he would have to play nice with. Though, Tony didn't really mind this one, he seemed quite chill compared to all the other old bags they'd assigned him with.

"Er... Excuse me, Rhodes? Do you mind if I call you Rhodey?"

To Tony's complete amazement, as well as Pepper's, Rhodey had surprisingly great patience and tolerance as he listened to Tony talk all night after they had business taken care of business; which was basically Tony's plans to go into protection and tracking for military than making weapons for it which Rhodey actually agreed on.

In all honesty, Tony had no idea how they went from business to watching the ' _Star Wars_ ' movies but that's exactly how Pepper had found them and with a brief introduction, Pepper kicked off her high hills and collapsed onto the plush sofa, propped her feet up on Tony's leg before she stole the popcorn bowl and watched the rest of the film. Tony and Rhodey shared a look before both men shrugged it off and focused back on the movie.

 

\-----

 

The finding of Happy Hogan was a wonderful accident.

Tony had been forced into a party by Pepper for his 22nd birthday that he didn't want in the first place. He'd really rather spend it with his family. But _no_! He had to go to a stupid, formally dressed party surrounded by a bunch of snobby people he didn't even know or like; especially that complete idiot Hammer who had actually slung his arm around his shoulders and took a picture with him like they were best buddies. He just hoped that the desperate look at Pepper would inflict some guilt.

He couldn't really do anything either! He didn't drink and he didn't like dancing unless they were with people he knew and only as a laugh. He was forced to associate himself with shady people who's emotions were rather twisted and scary... Like the guy named Killian that asked him to help him with a project. Tony could just tell that the guy wouldn't leave him alone for the whole night if he just plain out said 'no' so Tony sent the man to the roof to have the discussion in private, which he wouldn't actually turn up to.

After Tony had made his speech, he was picking locks and out the back door before Pepper could say two words about it.

It was night by the time he'd escaped from the party and was walking down the littered path, intent on getting home to drive to the school when an empty taxi came to view. With a joyous smile, Tony flagged the vehicle down and got in. He gave his address and then he was off. Away from the stressful night and all the creeps and all the girls that thought they were being cute but were just clingy and annoying in Tony's eyes. He sent a quick text to Pepper saying, **'Escape: Success!! ;P'** and then he settled down for the half hour ride to his place.

"So... Whats with the fancy get-up?" the driver asked.

Tony looked up at the rear-view mirror to see deep brown eyes staring back at him, aged and tired and Tony could definitely relate to the need to talk to someone in the night.

"Just came back from the most boring party in the universes history." Tony groaned, earning a chuckle from the driver.

"You ain't seen anything yet kid. Just wait till you have to go to your wives parents place for thanksgiving."

"I feel for you man, I really do." Tony said mournfully to the driver, electing another laugh.

"Your alright kid."

"I'm officially 22 today so I think I'm very much classed as an adult, thank you very much. And the name's Tony."

"Name's Happy."

A comfortable silence settled around them before Tony broke it once again with a, "So... you going to tell me about your in-law's thanks giving party?"

From the mirror, Tony could see the happy crinkling around his eyes before an easy laugh followed.

The next 24 minutes were filled with old stories and laughter. When they finally arrived at his house, Tony payed the man an extra tip before he climbed out the car.

"It was nice to meet you, Happy." Tony grinned as he finally got to see the mans face, dancing brown eyes with short dark hair with a retreating hairline. The man looked everything like his name sake but Tony could see a past etched in the depths of the mans eyes. "Good luck with your wife and in-laws." Tony chuckled before he added, "Its a good day to be single."

The man laughed once again, looking a little bit like he wanted to stay in Tony's bright presence a little longer but instead said, "I'll see ya around Tony." before he drove off into the night.

As soon as Tony stepped into his underground lab/parking garage, he called out to JARVIS, "J, do you mind getting a facial recognition on the guy that just dropped me off? First name: Happy. And could you get up any available info in his background work and such?"

"Of course, Sir." the AI immediately responded, "And happy birthday, Sir."

Tony took his time to look at one of the cameras with a fond smile before he responded with, "Thanks, J."

Then he was in his car heading was Xavier's school for gifted youngsters. Looks like he was going to be staying the night as well.

It was a sad day for all when Tony had to go home and mentally prepare himself for the inevitable tongue lashing he was going to get from Pepper. It took about four hours for her to be done and it was along the lines of 'I can't believe you picked the locks to get out of your own party' and 'how the hell do you know how to pick locks?'. It was long and quite terrifying if Tony were to tell the truth and he'd probably do it again because that party sucked.

By the time he was allowed in the lab, it was mid-day and Tony instantly was reading up on Happy Hogan's file. The man was an ex-marine and now he was shucked up with a nice wife and two kids but was stuck with a deadbeat job. The man was perfectly qualified for the job Tony had in mind for him...

Later in the week, Happy Hogan would go to the Stark Industries building, to the top floor and into the head office where he sees the young man that he had driven home no more than a couple of days ago. The kid was a CEO of one of the greatest tech companies in the world! So when the young man extending his hand with a bright smile, and said, "Do you want a job with great pay and hell of a lot more interesting?". It was safe to say that Happy jumped at the chance for this new job.

 

\-----

 

Tony was around 23 when he was called to do a presentation in Afghanistan to demonstrate his new inventions. One of them being a shock wave to momentarily stun the enemy during attack and a bullet proof shirt that was both light and more protective than any other.

He had to fly out with Rhodey by his side so not everything was bad but Happy was unhappy about the fact that he couldn't take Tony there, his job description as a driver and bodyguard making him extremely overprotective of Tony as he took his job very seriously. With hug and a wave for both Pepper and Happy, Tony and Rhodey were on their way and the sooner they finished this, the sooner they could go home.

Tony should have known that it wouldn't be that easy. He was Tony Stark of course, nothing ever went well for long. What goes up, must come down. And it just so happened that his high luck immediately plummeted in the form of an old bomb Howard had designed landing right next to him and going off in his face. Everything and happened so fast that Tony didn't even have time to react with his powers.

And there he was. His healing factor not working fast enough for the amount of damage caused. In pain, alone and bleeding out. He couldn't help but think of everyone that he loved, his mutant family, his friends, his students, his kids... God, he hoped they didn't go all Skynet on everyones asses in Tony's death.

Tony let out a painful chuckle at the thought and then everything faded out and he knew no more...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's gonna happen now?  
> What will change? And what will stay the same? HAHAHAHA!  
> More updates soon!


	7. I refuse to be him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry for delay in the update but I was swamped with Life so that sucks…  
> Anyway… Enjoy the chapter!

Liquid fire seemed to run through Tony's blood as he jolted awake, the vivid nightmares still flashing through his mind’s eye and the echo of his own screams filling his ears. A scream of pain clogged in his throat, the dryness of it made it painful to even breath. Distantly, he could hear a soft humming that seemed to squirm through the panicked forefront of his mind.

Finally regaining his breath and focus, Tony found that the pain didn't go away, the majority of it coming from his chest area. He opened his eyes but he didn't come across the blindingly white ceiling that he had become so used to seeing in the mornings but a rocky, dark and uneven ceiling that hung too low and looked too sinister for any room in his house. It was at that moment that Tony fully realised that maybe he wasn't just waking up from another childhood trauma filled nightmare. He was living one...

The soft humming seemed to continue and Tony couldn't help but describe it as rich honey. He bet that if he felt the humming person it would be--

Tony's whole body shook as he violently threw up over the side of his bed, earning him another painful tug at his chest.

After he was finished dry heaving over the side, Tony couldn't help the few tears that escaped him at the feeling of his powers being so distant to him. It was too awful to describe. His powers felt like they were locked in concrete cages with the key thrown away and the door welded shut; barely reachable as he felt the minimal amount of power he could use. A part of him locked away. The briefest of touches to it was like a burning pain that ran threw his entire system, raw and exposed. His powers were apart of him, given or otherwise, and to loose that was like loosing apart of himself...

The humming continued, bringing Tony out of his near panic attack once again and getting Tony to review all that had happened... or all he thinks that happened...

Slowly, memories came back and with those, came more clearer ones as he grew more certain on the events. He remembered his presentation being successful and the generals that had gathered to see his latest defence products. He remembered being in the 'fun-vee' as he called it, as small joke to Rhodey; remembers the guy his age, if a little older, asking for his photo with bright eyes and an even brighter smile, how could Tony have denied him? Then there was an attack. The soldiers died around him, bodies falling, riddled with bullets and pieces of sharp metal piercing through them, killing them almost instantly. He then remembered his frantic running, the bomb falling beside him, an old model his father had made and his name plastered in white print on the side of it. It had blown up, throwing him backwards and landing on his back with a wet feeling spreading over his chest and his body quickly growing colder by the minute.

He dry heaved again.

His supposed nightmare; a whole in his chest and his echoing screams, loud and shaking around him, as he tried to breath threw the pain that his captors had given him no relief from. The realisation was horrible and he quickly felt about his chest with shaking hands. He felt like he was going to attempt to threw up again when his calloused fingers came into contact with a thick bandage, wrapped around his torso multiple times as if to stop heavy bleeding...

Actions urged on by fear and desperation, Tony managed to rip open the bandages with quaking and screaming muscles. What he saw made him want to cover it back up again, just so he could ignore what he'd just saw. A devise. A round and foreign devise sat in the middle of his chest, it was fastened together with screws and had wires... it had wires coming out of it and leading somewhere...

A tendril of chilling dread curled around in his stomach as shaky fingers clumsily followed the wire that lead up, and up. When he looked to his side, he found that his wire had lead him to a car battery. The battery was old but and had been roughly fixed together with some of the old wires exposed and worn. Tony instantly went to pull the wires out, thinking that if he was alive now, it was for a reason and whatever that reason was, it defiantly wouldn't be good. He was young but he was extremely far from stupid; he didn't need his powers to know that he was in hostile territory.

However, to Tony's surprise, a hand quickly shot out to snatch away Tony's hand before he could grip the wire hard enough to pull. The hand was firm and warm with rough fingers curling around his own and gently putting it down.

The humming had stopped and Tony could only stare dumbly at the hand around his own. It wasn't restraining him and it wasn't harsh; it felt like he was being comforted.

Blinking slowly, Tony allowed his eyes to move up the hand, to an arm and, finally, a face. There was no natural light around them, with only a faint glow in the corner of the room, so Tony had to squint slightly and blink through his addled brain, and the too dark room, to see a man looking straight at him. The man wore glasses and was mostly bald with a bristly, grey beard around his mouth and chin (it looked to be freshly trimmed). He wore round glasses but Tony could clearly see warm brown eyes staring into his own. They looked knowing and regretful, the small smile laced with sadness added to the effect. The man looked to be in his late thirties or so and his clothes were poshly made but the few rips and the several smudges of dirt over it made Tony even more aware of the situation.

Through their connecting hands, Tony was able to feel the small traces of emotion the other was feeling, although it was barely enough to decipher in the first place. He could feel the sadness, regret, and guilt but it was so small, it felt like a badly lit fire that was slowly dying. He had felt so much before but to feel so little now was something so painful that it echoed within him.

Tony coughed when a sob tried to rip itself from his sore throat (sore from lack of water and dry heaving) but the tears came soon and they came hot and fast in his panic. He was in so much pain, he didn't know where he was and his sudden loss of his powers had made him half the man he truly was.

The sad stranger above him squeezed his hand and looked like he wanted to cry with Tony but the man just hummed his soft melody. Soon the soft melody got Tony to calm down, he stopped crying and his rapid breathing, that hurt his chest even more, became steady and controlled. Tony was now completely silent, with the car battery sitting beside him and his head leaning lightly against the strangers chest. The stranger didn't stop in his humming...

 

\-----

 

A couple of hours later had both men huddled around the only source of heat. Tony could only be grateful for the hoodie he'd been gifted as it was surprisingly cold in the cave and it also enabled Tony to cover up the devise he didn't really want other people looking at. Looking at it through a broken shard of mirror, Tony assessed the tender new scars that encircled the devise and noticed that some where etched over his shoulders and arms. No wonder he felt so awful waking up...

The man was whistling a tune that washed over Tony’s frayed nerves with calmness, evidently keeping him from freaking out again and attempting to pull out the wires. Tony could do nothing but watch as the stranger bustled about, working on the fire with a bent piece of scrap metal. It seemed like the man was purposely trying to keep himself busy to distract himself from something that pained him.

Slowly, Tony put down the shard and tracked the man with his eyes for a few minutes before he started to speak. Tony's throat was scratchy and his throat was still painfully sore so he spoke in a low, soft tone that he's only ever used with a panicked student in the school, "What did d'you do to me?"

A strained smile was directed his way as he answered Tony's question, "What did I do? What I did was save your life." he stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "I removed all the shrapnel I could, there's a lot left, and it's headed into your article septum."

The man sounded professional and he didn't bother to dumb it down, knowing fully well that Tony would understand - lots of people dumbed things down for Tony because he looked so young. Tony couldn't help but like him a little bit at that small fact.

Looking over to the stranger again, Tony saw the hesitance in his movements before he shook it off, deciding against whatever he was thinking about saying or doing next. The silence drifted between them as the stranger poked the fire for a couple of seconds, before he turned to look back at Tony, "I've seen many wounds like that in my village, we call them 'The Walking Dead' because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."

Tony felt a little sick hearing about others having to go threw what he did, it was painful and he’d be absolutely terrified if he were to die in a week, going through the death painfully and slowly with no hope of relieving it. Tony had a chance of survival but it was very possible that he would still die - after all, being hooked up to what looked to be a car battery probably wasn’t the healthiest of things... Not wanting to here anymore about the death of innocent people, Tony quickly cut in, "What is this?"

"That is an electro magnet hooked up to a car battery and is keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart." came the smooth response as the stranger cast Tony a nonjudgmental look which made him feel a bit better.

He zipped up his jacket to hide the device from view but he caught sight of a CCTV camera and the dread that had settled in his stomach only grew as he realised that he was being watched. Watched and spied on like a specimen and it made him feel panicky that JARVIS wasn't there to control it all. A smile twitched on his face as he thought of JARVIS and his beloved bots and thought about the tongue lashing he was going to get from the AI if... _when_ he went home.

The stranger caught his brief gaze at the camera before he went back to whatever he was doing. A smile graced the man's face as he tried to add a bit of humour into the situation but failed as a bitter tone fell over his voice, "That's right, smile." his tone then turned conversational again as he regarded Tony, "I met your father once, at a technical conference in Bern." Tony said nothing as he set his face in a blank expression; he didn't want to talk about that man, "I'd have been surprised if he remembered anything after that night. I know I wouldn’t have if I had been that drunk, I wouldn't even have been able to stand much less give a lecture on integrated circuits."

The man had a smile on his face as he thought about the extremely drunk billionaire that everyone seemed to love but at the silence of Tony, he looked over and his smile dropped instantly. Tony had a dark look on his face as he thought of the numerous times Howard had gotten drunk and he'd bring a belt or a crow bar or a knife… A familiar nausea started to peek at the back of his throat as he unconsciously started to change into his animal form (as he usually did whenever his memories of Howard popped up) and he had to quickly calm himself down so that he didn’t throw up again.

Tony looked back at the stranger, who had narrowed his eyes at Tony, concern and some other emotion Tony couldn't quite grasp shining in his eyes. “Where are we?" he quickly deflected before the man could ask.

As the man made to reply, loud, aggressive noises cut through the air, making Tony jump. The stranger looked slightly panicked and scared as he rushed over to Tony and yanked him up. It was only his quick reactions that Tony grabbed his car battery before he was yanked too harshly away from it to break the delicate wires.

Shocked and confused, Tony made to have a go at the stranger when he heard more crashes and angry voices that spoke in languages that Tony hadn't learnt yet. Heart picking up in fright, Tony couldn't help but think of the voice of his father that he could hear coming down the hall shouting in his rage in weird languages he wasn't capable of understanding at the time. He was dimly aware of the stranger ordering him to do as he does and put up his hands. All Tony could think was that his name was on the side of a gun that was not of his own creation.

It was only when the room fell into silence did Tony resurface from his terror filled memories, his eyes instantly focused and he was finally aware that there were perhaps six or seven people surrounding him and the stranger, their automatic weapons aimed at them and a big man with a greying beard and a pleased smile. Anywhere else, Tony would have considered the smile friendly but here and now, it was goddamn terrifying...

The guy with the creepy smile started to talk, his mother language rolling off his tongue with an air of formality and mocking pleasantness. The stranger translated for him.

"He says, 'Welcome Tony Stark, the son of the most famous mass murderer in the history of America'." the guy says something else, "He is honoured."

Tony didn't like it one bit. He hated being called Howard Stark's son on a good day and this was the furthest thing from a good day, so he was even more pissed off with the title than he normally would have been. He bit his tongue and kept his face blank, hitting the guy in the face would probably get him and the stranger killed.

"He wants you to build a missile. The Jericho missile that your father had designed but never made to the public," The old photo was handed over to him, "This one."

Disgust settled deep within his stomach at the photo; most of the stuff the monster made usually did. He'd looked over the specs when he had been made CEO of the company, finding the missile on the man's private server. What that  _thing_ was supposed to be able to do was horrible; a weapon of complete mass destruction and had the capability to win a war by firing it only once, most likely killing innocent civilians as well as the enemy. The weapon had never made it to the markets due to Howard's untimely death and the fact that everything had been kept under lock and key on servers that no one else, other than Howard, had the code for. Tony was only able to find it when he'd been trying to access it for at least five hours straight before deleting it all so how the hell did this man even know about it, let alone have a goddamn _picture_ of it!

He looked at the smiling faces of his kidnappers, their guns poised in a threatening way as the speaker put his hands behind his back with a smug smile. They think he's intimidated and that he'd be too scared to deny them.

They were dead wrong.

"I refuse."

 

\-----

 

Tony was sure that he was crying when they pulled him out once again. They pulled on his hair harshly as they yanked and pulled, forcing it under or out while others surrounded him holding him in place so he couldn't get away.

They'd taken him from the room almost immediately, several of them grabbing him and dragging him to where he was now. The hands hurt and all he could feel from them was the slight tingle of rage and anger and his own mounting fear and panic. Some of them punched him, in the face or stomach but they made sure to keep far away from the hole in his chest; not wanting to kill him just yet.

Lack of air and his blood full of adrenalin, had him thrashing and screaming into the water as he cried for the burning in his lungs to stop. They only pulled him out when his movements slowed, giving him a breath of air to lessen the burning before he was shoved back in. The water slushed over the sides, drenching him and shocking him when it made contact with the exposed wire in his chest and made him loose all of the air he'd just gained.

Water boarding, his mind supplied. A type of torture to drown someone on land but not kill them. They wouldn't kill him, the rational side of his mind assured him, they need him. But the rational side had been pushed back to the back seats as the panicked and irrational side of his mind screamed that he was going to die, that this time they wouldn't pull him back out.

It went on for what seemed like hours but really could have only been half hour, forty-five minutes. After they had finished, they dumb him back into that room he first woke up in with the stranger, who would run his fingers through his hair as he cried and sobbed pitifully into the man's chest, attempting to forget the flash back he'd had and the torture session. It seemed that all the stranger needed to do was hum and it would make Tony calm down, it took a while each time but it settled his mind the slightest bit. Odd...

They did this again and again, threatening his life with every dunk and cut and punch. He was growing tired and he was sure that if it wasn’t for the stranger, he’d have gone mad ages ago. A couple of weeks, or so, later (Tony had generally lost all concept of time at that point and so wasn’t completely sure), the people had come again but instead of the dragging and hitting, they put a bag over his head and, from the sounds of it, they took the nice stranger too.

Numbly, Tony thought that maybe this was it, that they were both going to be killed because the terrorists finally got it through their thick skulls that Tony wasn't going to change his mind anytime soon...

It came as a slight shock when they pulled the bag off of his head and was instantly abused by a blinding light that heated his skin in a welcoming way - he was outside. Opening his eyes, Tony could only look in horror at the camp around him, rocky hills all around them and tents with boxes and crates scattered around the whole place; Howard's name printed across each and everyone. He nearly tripped when someone hit him round the head and sent him into the terrorist beside him. With growing disgust and dread, Tony stumbled down the small hill and to the obnoxiously loud man that had spoken to him the fist day.

The man smiled as he swept a hand over the camp with obvious pride, talking as he went. His fellow hostage translating the jumble of words he tried and failed to decipher, "He wants to know what you think."

When Tony spoke, he had to do his best not to cringe, his voice sounded raw and fragile (it was worse than the first time he woke up in the cave), it brought up memories he'd rather forget, "I think you got a lot of Howard's weapons."

The captured doctor looked at Tony with questioning and curious eyes but Tony dismissed it when he spoke again to translate, "He says they have everything you needed to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make a list of materials. He says for you to start working immediately and, when your done, you will be free."

It was a lie. Even with his even with his powers diminished, he could still feel small traces of a lie, he'd always found it to be like sucking on a sour lemon.

Tony looked around himself, looking at the weapons his company was no longer supposed to be producing. He thought of the people that would die if he ever built the Jericho and the battery connected to his chest that would surely give up in another week or so with it's rough condition and treatment. He thought of the last time he'd seen the monster and his underestimation of Tony's understanding that had, in the end, lead to his own downfall. A plan was slowly piecing itself together and Tony couldn't help the slight grin from forming when he took the oblivious man's hand and gave it a shake.

"No he wont."

The nice stranger looked at him, a strained smile on his face as he confirmed, "No, he wont."

 

\-----

 

Later that night, Tony sat around the fire with a grim expression. He had one shot at this and it was the best plan Tony could come up with. It was risky, near impossible and constantly under the danger of being discovered that could potentially get him and his fellow hostage killed.

Covered up in old, worn clothes that frayed slightly at the edges, Tony couldn't help but feel the slight contentment of being warm. He may have been in a dessert but in the cave, it felt cold all the time, he was surprised that the jagged rocks hadn’t started to frost around the edges yet. Damn, stupid cave. If he never saw another cave after all this mess, it'd be too soon...

As the embers rose and vanished into the cold air, Tony couldn't help but think about what his family was doing without him. Did they miss him? Were they looking? Did they care? He found himself wondering if Rhodey had given up on him, if Pepper had quite her job for a different company, if Happy was back to his taxi job that he was so miserable at. He wondered if the school had forgotten about him, if his students forgot or if Logan went on a rampage. He wondered if his coded children would ever forgive him for never coming back...

In his wonderings, his face had become steadily blank as he stared at the flicking, dancing flames with unseeing eyes. He was brought out of it when the stranger sat down beside him and started to talk.

"I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark, but they will never find you in these mountains." the doctor stated, tone firm and matter-of-fact while his eyes were full of empathy, "Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark. Your father's entire life's work in the hands of those murderers." he hissed harshly, "Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?"

Tony looked at the man, his eyes pleading for him not to give up, he couldn't feel anything the man was feeling at the moment, which only left Tony feeling sick again. He pushed down the bile in his throat as he spoke, "That is not my _legacy_!" Tony hissed, his anger getting the best of him, "My company isn't supposed to be building major weapons anymore. I don't even know how they knew about the Jericho... The bastard is dead and it’s not _my_ fault that he left behind his life’s work of shit! So don’t act like it’s my responsibility for his shit because it’s not!"

Breathing heavily, Tony let go of the rush of irrational anger; he had way more important things than to rant about the monster in human skin. The stranger was quiet as he looked into Tony's eyes, shocked wide eyes and Tony’s own bout of nausea, telling Tony all he needed to know. His green eyes had peeked in his anger and now the man knew...

Shaking his head, Tony carried on, "They're gonna kill me and you either way. If not, I'll be dead by the end of the week..." he stated grimly with a withering look at the cracked and falling apart car battery. Probably wasn't even a week, more like five or four days.

"Well then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?" the stranger said with a small, barely-there smile.

 

\-----

 

Tony couldn't quite suppress his internal joy as he watched his captors scramble over each other to do what he asked for and where he needed them to put it. Okay, so he was a little petty to take joy in commanding them about but the faint wisps of amusement from his fellow hostage was worth it (he swore he was getting a stronger grip on his powers lately).

In no time, Tony was working hard and doing the delicate work. First on his list was to deal with the car battery problem; it's not like he could work with all the wires getting in the way and the ratty old thing was barely holding up... Definitely the first thing he needed to do.

He was working on the head of Howard's missile when he decided to try and get some answers, "How many languages do you speak?" he asked the older man without looking at him.

"A lot. But, apparently, not for this place." he stated, "They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian."

"Who are these people?" he asked, while he pulled out the insides of the missile.

"They are your loyal customers, Sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings" the stranger relies.

Tony frowned at the term 'loyal customers'. He didn't make missiles, he never had. The whole weapons department was due to shut in a few months so they were filling out minimal orders like flash bombs or pistols. Then the issue of the Jericho came up in his mind once again. The Ten Rings shouldn't have been able to get the specs for something that was never released. The only thing he could come up with was that it was an inside job; a mole in his company... or something of that sort.

Internally, Tony pushed the thought away; he had more things to think about, like staying alive, for instance. His fingers were fast and precise, knowing what to touch and how it operated helped him in taking everything apart. In the past few years, Tony had only skimmed over Howard's old weapon plans, not really having an interest in it and, at the time, he'd only been interested in finding his own weapons file Howard must have made while he was experimenting but he had been unsuccessful.

In his deep thinking, Tony distantly heard the older male say something about letting him in on the plan but Tony only could only mumble a distracted "Yuh-huh" and continued his dismantling. His mind focused on what he needed from the mangle of wires and metal in front of him- honestly, he could do way better than this hunk of junk! Finally grabbing what he needed, Tony looked at the rest of it with a small hint on disgust on his face as he threw it over his shoulder, slightly satisfied with the crash it made, and said to himself, "Okay, we don't need this."

"What is that?"

Hoping that the older man had seen all that he did, Tony held up the small piece of metal, only slightly annoyed that he would have to this several more times just to get to that small an object. He holds it to the light and told the other man exactly what it was, "That’s palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don’t you go break down the other 11?" They were working on borrowed time so every second and breath had to be spent on trying to get out of here. He would tell the stranger when he had time but right now, they needed to work double time.

The man must have had the same opinion as he nodded and did what Tony said.

And so they worked for hours and hours, picking up a sweat, silent in their tasks with the amount of concentration they needed for the task. Their backs would ache from spending so much time in the same position hours at a time and Tony ended up with more than one burn on his hands and arms- they hurt like hell but he could only push the pain away as he carried on working, it was only a little pain after all.

It was a couple of days (Tony didn't know how many) before he finally remembered that he hadn't asked for the stranger's name yet. They were in the middle of pouring the scolding hot molten liquid into a cup, the stranger's steady hands carrying it and making sure none spilled.

Despite the stranger's steady hands, Tony couldn't help the "Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this." that slipped past his lips and his gripped his hair slightly in his internal freak-out/worry.

The stranger replied smoothly, his expression was one of a relaxed and patient man, "Relax, I have steady hands. Why do you think you’re still alive?"

A slight twitch to his lips had Tony grinning at the man with bright eyes, before he looked at the cup and molten liquid in front of them, it's full amount being poured into the cup. Peering over his shoulder, Tony asked ever so casually, “So, er, what do I call you?" or not so casually...

The stranger turned to face him, a hint of a smile on his lips and a warm look in his eyes, "My name is Yinsen." he stated simply.

"Yinsen," Tony tried, the sound rolling off his tongue, "Nice to meet you." Tony said with a genuine smile and held out his hand.

Yinsen looked a little taken aback by the smile, obviously he'd only ever seen his empty camera-smile in the media photos, and took his hand with a timid smile of his own, "Nice to meet you too."

Tony's smile brightened as he felt the slight tendrils of gentle honesty that he could just about feel.

When Tony finishes, he can't help the smug pride that fills him as he adds the last detail, the device glowing a brilliant blue. As he takes a minute to stare at his creation in pride, Tony couldn't help but think that he was going to be more closely related to his bots, with the power source soon to be embedded in his chest he was practically going to be a cyborg...

"That doesn’t look like a Jericho missile.” came Yinsen's soft voice from over his shoulder and Tony couldn't help the small tug of a smile at the corner of his mouth at the faint tendril of awe coming from Yinsen (yep, be was definitely getting stronger).

"That’s because it’s a miniaturized arc reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart." Tony explains a little smug and proud of what he's created.

“But what could it generate?"

“If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second.”

“That could run your heart for 50 life times.” Yinsen pointed out, awe and disbelief clear in his voice that only made the pride in Tony's chest swell.

He was glad to keep the giddy happiness out of voice as he said ever so casually, “Yeah, or something big for 15 minutes.” The corner of his mouth twitch as he thought of Pepper loudly complaining about the massive boost of his ego and that she'd need more than a pin to deflate it.

Grinning, Tony couldn't help the childish glee in his eyes as he took Yinsen's arm and practically dragged him over to a dirty side table that had pieces of old and slightly ripped tracing paper. His grin only widened at the older man's confused frown.

"What is it?"

Tony waved his hand at the papers as he said, "Flatten them out and look."

The man's eyes widened at what he saw. A complicated and detailed metal suit, it was clunky with so many faults it made Tony want to cry but, right now, it would do. It had to...

“Oh, wow. Impressive." Yinsen nodded with approval in his eyes but Tony's smile wobbled a bit and ducked his head when he couldn't feel it, Yinsen being too far away even just to feel a little. When he looked back up, his eyes were burning with determination as they met Yinsen's. He would get out and he would feel again...

 

\-----

  

They were playing a board game, taking a break from the intense environment of the heat of the fire and work. Tony could say how many times he'd burned himself and just had to wrap it up and carry on, adjusting to the injury as he worked. Yinsen looked to be faring the same, if a little worse but the man was older than Tony and he also didn't have to experience all kinds of pain for nine years. In short: Tony was used to it, Yinsen wasn't so much.

Tony rolled a good dice and he couldn't help the small smile as the older man complimented him on it before he grabbed the dice as well, shaking it in his hand to roll it. Before he threw, he blew on the dice for good luck and rolled.

They had been working together for a while now and although the friendship they had made had been under unhealthy conditions, Tony couldn't help but count the man as a close friend anyway.

 It wasn't long before Tony spoke up with a question that had been bugging him for weeks, "So... What kind of mutation do you have?"

Yinsen jerked as he rolled the dice, hitting Tony in the face and making the billionaire loose his balance on his seat, he grunted as a landed roughly on the floor beside the game.

The older man only looked at him a little apologetically, but not too much, as his lips twitched in amusement at the genius’ pained 'ow'. When Tony was up on his seat again, Yinsen looked away and for a moment before his eyes locked with Tony's, "I have the ability to calm heightened emotions by using musical means." the response was calm and specific but Tony could feel hints of underlaying fear nonetheless.

"Cool," was Tony's short response, "Then I have you to thank for getting me out of all those panic attacks... Sorry you had to deal with those by the way."

Yinsen could only shake his head with a small smile on his face as he said, "You have nothing to be sorry for Tony. It is natural for a human to go through something like that, especially after such trauma..."

The mention of said 'trauma' had shivers going down Tony’s spine; he didn't think he'd ever stand the sight of water again...

"What about you?"

At Tony's innocently confused expression, Yinsen sighed and carried on, "Stupid is not a good look on you, Tony." Tony smiled a little at the use of his first name, "I saw your reactions when you first woke up, it looked like you were physically dying. I should know, I went through the exact same thing when I first arrived."

"Do you know how they do it?" Tony asked, a curious frown on his face.

"No. But what they have isn't strong enough to suppress our powers completely and I'm not sure if anyone could over come it... If someone were powerful enough, then maybe one could but right now..." he sighed as he shook his head, "Our mutations are no good to us."

Tony looked a little disappointed at the lack of information but he could only shrug and move on, "I have empathy, technopathy, electrokinesis, telekinesis and I have an animal shift."

After Tony informed the man of his mutations, Yinsen could only stare at Tony with eyes as wide as saucers as he stared at the young billionaire.

Tony could see the mental struggle that Yinsen was going through and that the man was bursting with too many questions to count, Tony could only give him a small smile, past pain reflected in his eyes, "It's a long story..."

Several minutes passed in silence as Yinsen tried to get the look of Tony's eyes out of his head, sad smile with eyes of so much pain and sorrow, more pain than any man or mutant could ever deal with...

They proceeded their game for a time before Tony once again spoke up, a spark in his eyes that showed he was up to no good, "So... Where're you from?"

The older man looked at him over the rim of his glasses, obviously noticing his discomfort with the silence and answered him with a patient and calming voice, "I’m from a small town called Gulmira. It’s actually a nice place."

Tony only nodded thoughtfully before he blurted out, "You got any family?" Tony just wanted the ground to swallow him whole at his extremely personal question came out before he could put a lid on it. _Way to go, Tones_ , he could hear Rhodey's voice taunt in his mind.

Yinsen gave him a sad smile as he nodded his head, "Yes, and I will see them when I leave here." There was something strange with his response but Tony could barely feel the emotion so left it at that. It wasn’t long before Yinsen spoke up with a question of his own, eyes curious, "What about you?" at Tony's confused frown, he elaborated a bit, "Have you got any family at home?"

Tony stopped to think about it... His family? His father had tried to murder him after he tried to make him into a living weapon to sell to his customers. He'd never known his mother, he'd never seen the woman's face, other than in the news, and he was too young to have any children of his own; he had too many trust issues to even think about settling down for sex let alone a relationship with someone.

But then he thought past blood and romance. He thought about Jarvis, a man that he even remembered in the dark cell where he forgot his own name and self-worth. He then thought about the school and all his friends there. Looking back, he remembered the way he used to feel them around him, the way they felt happy and content for him, he remembered Logan's tsunami of pride when he'd asked the man to teach him to fight and he remembered feeling the Professor's joy and happiness when he found Tony in his panther form just lounging about in the sun, letting some of the younger students stroke him.

Thoughts moved onto his students, the way their eyes brightened up when he told them small stories and how they sometimes called him 'Uncle Tony' outside of classes. He remembered his own content when he taught his students the basics of technology and mechanics.

He then looked past his mutant life and to the life as human Tony Stark. Picturing Pepper and her killer high hills, talking about this and that and displaying irritation when she felt fondness for his antics. He thought about past arguments with Rhodey about the latest television show or action movie. He thought of Happy's extreme over protectiveness towards Tony and the banter they shared together in boring car rides.

And then, he thought of his bots. The children he'd made with a hell of a lot of soldering and continuous coding. He had created them with his own blood, sweat and tears and he couldn't help but think of the first time they had called him their Dad. It was truly a highlight in Tony's life and it was one of his best.

"Yes, and they will kill me when I see them again." Tony admitted with a bright smile despite his words.

There was a brief moment of confusion on Yinsen's face but it cleared with an understanding smile and he patted Tony's arm when he bowed his head at the thought of Jean and Storm tying him to a bed and locking the door until he was well into his forties... The most scary thing was that Tony knew they would do it if they thought they needed to...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to complete part 2 as fast as I can! bye!


	8. Escaping Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the extremely late update but I just want to say that I'm never leaving a story unfinished. So, no matter how long I take to update, it will never be left unfinished... Unless I die...  
> On a happier note, I really think that chapter worked out okay.  
> Tell me what you think ;)

It was a while until Tony was interrupted by the terrorists again. A few weeks of peace and quiet as he and Yinsen hid in the blind spots on the cameras and completed their work bit by bit. When they came in, Tony's guns at the ready, faces covered and the ones that weren't covered were pulled into grim lines. At the sight of them again, Tony couldn't quite suppress a flinch as he found himself thinking of water and shocks running throughout his body, but he followed Yinsen's lead, dropping his things and putting his hands on his head. Waiting.

As he stood by the mutant doctor, Tony could feel the small waves of fear and confusion coming from him, he could barely feel it but it was definitely there. To comfort the man, Tony shuffled further forward, hoping that they'd pay more attention to him than the doctor.

It wasn't long until Tony was faced with a man he wasn't well acquainted with, but by the looks of him, his tall posture, his separation from the usual terrorists holding the guns as he wore nothing around his head with no hair on top. His dark eyes were hungry looking as they settled on Tony's arc reactor, the blue glowing through the thin materials of his shirt.

"Relax." he stated in English, as he looked to the two prisoners.

For a brief second, Yinsen and Tony glanced at one another, cautious and tense as they slowly lowered their arms from their heads, wondering if it was a trick of some kind.

Then the man stepped up to Tony, the younger fighting with himself to not move back and away from him, and reached forward to pull his shirt down, revealing the ugly scarring of his chest and the blue glow of his new mechanical heart. He was close enough that Tony could see a ring on each of his fingers, ten rings. _Was this bastard the leader of it all?_ he thought as he looked at the man before him with a stony expression, willing his fury to calm so he didn't show his eyes.

After a few seconds, that felt more like agonisingly long minutes, the terrorist's eyes snapped back to Tony's and it took everything in him to not growl and snarl at the man as he saw greed and want wharf off of him, the pungent smell of it (too strong of him not to notice, suppressed powers, or not) making Tony want to kill the man; his animal instincts commanding that he do so as the look compared to that of Howard when Tony was strapped to the table, his surgical knife poised and at the ready. In that moment, Tony was, shockingly thankful for the mutant powers suppressors, otherwise he really would have killed the man, his instincts being too strong to control.

He was eternally thankful when the terrorist moved away, speaking English, "The bow and arrow was once pinnacle of weapons technology," he started to walk about lazily, hands folded behind his back, showing that he had power over the two, despite looking vulnerable, "It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the seize of Alexander the Great and four times the seize of the Roman Empire. But today," he stopped and looked at Tony once again, "Whoever holds the latest Stark weapons, rules these lands. And soon... It will be my turn..."

Suddenly, he looked at Yinsen, eyes murderously cold as he glared at the Doctor, hissing in his native tongue and Yinsen replying back with a slight quiver in his voice, looking meek and afraid in the face of the proud looking terrorist. Tony could only depict a few of the words, none of them really forming anything to make much sense, but by the tone of voice the terrorist was using, it wasn't much of a stretch to guess what he was asking about.

It was when Yinsen got to his knees that Tony started to look alarmed, wanting to step in and rip his new-found friend from the horrible man's grip but forced himself to stay put unless he wanted to be shot by trigger-happy terrorists, that were just searching for a reason to kill.

Tony could only watch with growing horror when the terrorist picked up a hot coal, forcing Yinsen's head to a metal surface, the doctor opening his mouth, the feeling of the Doctor's fear so strong that it made Tony want to throw-up.

"What's going on?" he asked, desperate to turn the man's fury away from his friend and onto him instead, but his efforts went ignored as the terrorist continued to shout, his tone becoming angrier and angrier, Yinsen's fear growing to suffocating levels.

It was then, the hot coal inches from Yinsen's mouth, that Tony couldn't hold it anymore and stepped forward at the risk of his own life. Almost immediately, the guns clicked into his direction, making him stop and place his hands on his head, showing that he was vulnerable, "What do you want?" he asked when the terrorist's attention was turned to him, "A delivery date?" he asked, eyes solely on the terrorist threatening his friend.

There was a drawn out silence for a second, Tony looking to Yinsen and the hot coal quickly before he focused on the terrorist once again, "I need him. He's a good assistant." he tried to sound nonchalant, not wanting them to kill Yinsen because Tony cared about him. If they wanted to, they could kill Yinsen to try and get Tony motivated for the missile. He couldn't loose Yinsen just because he'd decided to care about the man too much.

"You have till tomorrow..." the terrorist dropped the hot coal beside Yinsen's head, making the Doctor sigh with relief and Tony to breath out a silent one, "...To assemble my missile." he finished, giving one last look at Tony's chest before he moved out of the room, taking his armed men with him.

Once there was a loud clang of the large door locking behind them, Tony practically threw himself at the Doctor, checking to see if he was alright until he pulled Yinsen up from the ground.

Tony patted him on the shoulder, giving him a grim look as he said, "This is going to be pushing it..."

Yinsen nodded as he righted himself, looking at Tony as he said, "Looks like we better get to it then."

 

\-----

 

Tony would gladly admit that he'd never felt more disgusting in his life. There were no little breaks, where he was able to clean himself with a some stale water and a fraying rag, so he was constantly drenched with sweat, grease and a little bit of blood - his fingers and hands getting caught up in the metal work as he rushed to get things soldered and bolted, trying to make it as efficient as possible in his shortest of dead-lines. Distantly, it reminded him of a time when he first started to work with Obadiah, the man's impossible dead-lines and using every sort of excuse to bombard him with his sour presence - the business man seemed to give up after a time, when Tony never listened to him and dodged him in the office with the help of JARVIS. Shaking his head, Tony focused back on the two plates of metal, welding them expertly together with heated sparks stinging his arms and making him cringe slightly before he carried on, ignoring the pain.

Looking over at the other end of the cave, Tony saw Yinsen hard at work, his hands steady as he did his own piece of welding in his area. When Yinsen looked up at Tony, feeling eyes on him, Tony did a small thumbs up and an encouraging smile, before they both went back to work - too busy for words.

The suit Tony was making fitted only one person and all the measurements were made to fit Tony's body and stature. Tony felt slightly guilty that he'd be handling the mass of protection and weapons that they would use to escape, leaving Yinsen utterly and completely exposed but the older man had made a convincing argument, saying that Tony had a fixed power source in his chest and Tony was also the most small in stature, meaning that less overall metal would need to be used, and the fact that Tony was younger and stronger than Yinsen's aged and malnourished body - him being a captive longer than Tony had.

It seemed like a week had passed with no sleep to rekindle their energy as they worked, but in reality, Tony knew that it had only been a day. Looking up at the large suit, he couldn't help but smile. It wasn't glorious in its clunky and bulky form, but Tony felt impressed by his creation given his limited resources, flame-throwers fixed to the arms, guns and bullets along with rockets attached to the human-shaped tank that Tony would theoretically be able to walk in. Looking to the explosives attached to the far wall, their last wall of defence, their last delay to create time for themselves.

Feeling sick for a second, Tony shook his head as he resisted the urge to throw-up, knowing that it wasn't the mutation suppressions but his nerves that was giving him this feeling.

The suit assembled before them, Tony patted Yinsen's shoulder with a small smile, which the doctor returned, before he climbed into the suit, automatically pulling the straps together and securing them around himself, the chest plate going on first. Almost a few seconds later, Yinsen was aiding him, securing his legs and his arms when Tony was finished with the chest straps.

Forcing himself to take a breath of air, Tony fought the panic and nervousness down as he could barely fidget now that he was in the suit. Feeling desperate, Tony looked straight into Yinsen's eyes knowing that the animalistic green of his eyes were peeking out despite the suppressors, showing the older man how trapped and scared Tony truly felt.

"Say it again." Yinsen commanded, knowing Tony well enough that it would successfully distract the younger man from his panic.

Taking a deep breath, Tony let his mind be diverted as he recited the directions with ease, "Sixteen steps, left from the door, four to the right." he nodded, feeling more controlled as he then started to count the seconds and the steps in his head.

However, the panic felt like it was drowning him again when he heard the close shouting and banging on the door, screaming in a language that Tony finally understood out of all the Arabic and Egyptian that people had been shouting at him. His Hungarian was a little sketchy but he could still understand. Quickly, he looked to Yinsen and saw the older man's pale features as he stared wide-eyed at the hulking door that Tony would go through in just a few minutes.

At seeing the obvious panic on the man's face, Tony forced himself to calm down as he instructed loudly and clearly, "Say something." he commanded, Yinsen being closer to the door to speak through it than Tony was.

"He's speaking Hungarian," the man admitted, panicking, "I don't..."

"Igen? Azért vagyunk itt!" Tony called out, earning a surprised look from Yinsen in turn.

"Mit csinálsz?" came the shouted question through the door.

Tony winced as he replied back with, "Semmi sem!" he called back with a wince, regretting it when there was a split second of silence before they were banging on the door, trying to open them. However, before the terrorists could even step foot into the room, the explosives went off and the terrorists were presumably dead.

"How was that?" Tony asked, straining his neck but not being able to see the destruction he'd caused.

Yinsen nodded his head, looking impressed but not quite being able to hide his concern. Not that Tony could blame him, the explosion was made to get them more time but it would also alert the rest of the cave occupants that Tony and Yinsen were trying to escape. Surely, they would stop at nothing to kill them both, meaning guns and death in all directions and there was only two of them against an untold amount of them. "Oh my goodness," he breathed as he stared at the destruction, "It worked alright. What did you say?" he asked, confused.

"Er... I said we were here, and they asked me what we were doing," he winced slightly before he said, "Then, I kind of hesitated and said 'nothing'."

That only earned him an incredulous look from Yinsen as he finished buttoning Tony up, a raised eyebrow going with the fond amusement in his eyes, before he turned back to the urgent matter at hand, going to the old computer on the desk not a few feet from Tony, "What do I do?" he asked, hands timidly hovering over the keys, completely out of his element.

Tony quickly glanced up before he quickly secured the power source to the suit, making his reactor shine brightly through the dulled metal.

A loud clatter came seemed to echo from outside the cave, making Yinsen shout at Tony, "Now! Tell me! Tell me!"

"F11," Tony commanded once the arc reactor was secured, the last thing now being up to Yinsen and the computer, "Tell me when you see a process bar. It should be up right now. Talk to me," Tony asked, straining his neck to see the computer, "Tell me when you see it." he commanded as he did some last minute checks and pulls on the straps around him that he could reach with his minimal mobility.

"I have it."

"Press Ctrl +1"

"Got it."

"'Enter'. I, 'Enter'," once Yinsen had typed that, Tony gestured with his head for the doctor to approach him whilst saying, "Come over here and button me up." he gestured to the small bit that was left unchecked.

"They're coming!" Yinsen stated with urgency as he looked back at Tony, his hands trembling as they fiddled with the buttons.

Tony shook his head, "Doesn't need to look pretty." he soothed, wishing that his hands were free enough to touch Yinsen to calm him down a little more, guilt filling him as he looked at the defenceless doctor.

"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?" Tony asked, forcefully, wanting to take Yinsen's mind off of the oncoming danger of angry terrorists.

"We need more time." Yinsen breathed, a far away look in his eyes as he thought about something.

Nodding absentmindedly, Tony agreed, "Okay." as he checked the weapons on his arms.

"I'm gonna go buy you some time." Yinsen stated in a stronger voice, making Tony's head snap up to meet the determined gaze of the doctor, dread filling his chest as he watched Yinsen step back from him, unable to move to stop him from running.

"No," Tony breathed with wide-panicked eyes, terrified for Yinsen's life as the Doctor, who saved his life, turned around and ran to the blown entrance of the door, shooting as he went, "Stick to the plan!" Tony shouted, trying to stop him, "Stick to the plan!" there was no reply and Tony felt a bout of pure fear as he yelled out, "Yinsen!"

Suddenly, the suit began to move, Tony controlling the hunk of metal around him as he ripped his armour clad arm from the chains that had previously been holding him and the suit up. He caught a glimpse of the process bar, the loading screen still having a quarter of the way to go before he brushed it off, draining the entire base of its power to power his suit before he plunged the world into darkness, the eerie glow of his green-slit eyes shining through the holes of his helmet, the same as his glowing blue reactor.

Without a moment more of hesitation, Tony killed all of the terrorists around him, his vision clear as day despite the inky darkness that Tony had subjected them all to. Within seconds, Tony was out of the cell by his own will, distantly reminding him of the time he escaped his father's cell after killing him, how free and empowering it all felt. The Ten Rings reminded him of his familial hell. They would die. All of them would die horrible deaths. And he would see to it that they suffered...

Marching down the cave, counting his steps, the metal clunking and his joints whirring as they moved like the well-oiled machine Tony had created them to be.

As soon as he turned the corner, he saw Yinsen, gun in hand and staring death in the face as a row of terrorists acted as a shooting squad.

"Yinsen!" Tony shouted before he lifted his hand in vain wanting to stop what was inevitably about to happen. But Tony could only stare in shock as he a blue light formed around Yinsen but not before a lone bullet got through the closing defences, getting Yinsen in the stomach as he wheezed and fell to the ground. "No!" Tony shouted, as he threw his hands out at the row of terrorists, who were about to prepare to fire upon Tony. 

Almost immediately, the guns the terrorists were holding flew back, knocking a few of them over before Tony open fired, killing them all without mercy. After there were no more screams, Tony rushed over to Yinsen, falling to his knees as he quickly lifted up his mask, forcing the panther-green out of his eyes, but was only partially successful as the green clung to his outer iris.

"Yinsen," Tony stuttered, his lungs seeming to fail him as the bullet wound in the Doctor's stomach seemed to be a fatal shot, lifeblood soaking through Yinsen's shirt, blood staining his teeth as he breathed unevenly, laying, in pain, on the punishingly hard sandbags.

"Stark," he got out, eyes seeming to be captivated by Tony's own.

"Come on. We gotta go." Tony instructed, knowing he wouldn't be able to carry Yinsen with the suit still on him, "I don't have the power to heal others, you need to get up so we can see the sky together. See that amazing blue sky again," he had tears in his eyes as he looked at his dying friend, not wanting the man to die, not wanting to say goodbye, "We got a plan, we need to stick to it." he stated, more begging than commanding, as he looked down at Yinsen, wishing that the man's family was there with him, instead of Tony, as laid on his deathbed.

"This was always the plan, Stark." Yinsen weakly shook his head, more blood gathering at his lips, eyes half-lidded.

Shaking his head, hot, barely noticed tears tracking pathways down his dirtied cheeks, "Come on, we're going to go see your family again-"

"My family is dead." the whispered admission sounding deafening in Tony's ears as he stared wide-eyed at the man he was hoping to bring with him, reunite him with his family and take them to America, where he could live a full and comfortable life in a fancy family home with his wife and his kids running about. The image of what he was going to do for his friend shattered in that moment, knowing fully well that his friend had no real intention of ever leaving the place alive.

"I'm going to see them now, Stark," Yinsen smiled as he looked up at the ceiling, his breath coming shorter by the second, "It's okay. It's okay," he whispered weakly, his eyes closed now, "I want this. I want this."

"Thank you for saving me." Tony barely got out, openly crying as he held his friend's hand as the life in his eyes drained out of him bit by bit as the seconds crawled by at an agonisingly slow pace.

"Don't waste it." he pleased as he looked at Tony, his fingers barely twitching in Tony's hand, "Don't waste your life." he asked with his final breath and then Tony watched with an aching sob as his friend's brown eyes became lifeless and empty, his chest still and his fingers no longer moving in Tony's grip. Gently, with shaking hands, Tony took off one of the gauntlets that he'd made and reached over Yinsen's face, using his trembling hand to close his friend's eyes for one last time.

"I will." Tony whispered out with stuttering breath.

Suddenly, everything came back into focus, the foreign shouting in the distance, the blood that covered his friend's shirt, the damned stony black walls of the cave that his friend died in, no light or blue sky to be seen.

That's when he saw a terrorist, their gun held up and he didn't hesitant to fire upon seeing Tony. However, the bullet stopped, merely a few feet in front of Tony, his green eyes impossibly bright, as more tears tracked down his face. More terrorists came and fired upon Tony, all of the bullets stopping in front of Tony as he trembled with the overwhelming feelings of loss, pain and rage, the terrorists falling to the knees and sobbing loudly as Tony accidently projected his feelings, " **This is**." blue energy seemed to shimmer into existence, " **All.** " his armour started to break away, the metal of the armour flaking off of him, slowly drifting outwards to join the bullets, " **Your.** " the blue energy seemed to get stronger, the energy visibly drawing back towards Tony as he stood unarmoured and crying in front of the terrorists. The terrorists only stared at him in shocked wonder, some of them looking at him with growing horror forming on their faces at Tony's powerful display. " _ **Fault!**_ " he screamed, the blue energy, the bullets and flaked metal flying outwards as Tony screamed, incinerating everything that came to pass, the foundations visibly collapsing as the blue energy passed through it, destroying everything within a ten mile radius. The terrorists didn't even have time to scream before they were all killed, leaving nothing of them to remain. It was like they were burned out of existence.

Once all was done, Tony fell to his knees, sobbing as he looked up, taking in the impossibly blue skies that was once a blackened rocky ceiling.

He stayed like that for a while, crying and sobbing for his friend, sobbing at everything that had happened to him, sobbing for the people that had died for him, sobbing for his family that he wanted desperately to see again. His terrible and all too horrific nightmare finally over.

It felt like an age before Tony stopped and climbed up from his knees to stand on trembling, unstable legs. As he looked around him, his eyes were wide and he could only gape at the scene before him. For miles out, all he could see was ruins, the mountain range looking like a large broken pile of rocks, not a body in sight, not a smidge of evidence that there used to be caves around him or that it was once a terrorist base. Everything was utterly and completely destroyed.

Looking down, he saw the body of his friend, dead and lying amongst the ruins, but whole, much to his relief.

Fresh tears clumped in his eye-lashes as he stooped down and picked up the man, whilst he looked around the destroyed place with a sneer of distaste. His friend would not be buried or cremated amongst their captors.

With determination set in his features, Tony walked through the demolished mountain range and didn't stop. He walked for what felt like miles, his friend in his arms as he walked. It felt like hours passed and he knew that he was going to die of dehydration or heat exhaustion soon. He heard a small voice in his head saying that the wisest decision would be to drop Yinsen and carry on, carrying a dead body being too taxing for someone in the desert heat and already too exhausted to walk for much longer, but Tony ignored the voice and carried on, walking, one foot in front of the other.

For hours with the sound of nothing but his panting breath and the sliding of sand that tried to consume his feet as he walked, he couldn't believe that he almost missed the beat of a helicopter, his power feeling the energy of the machine coming closer and closer.

Snapping his gaze to the sky, Tony spotted the nearing helicopter and carefully set down Yinsen's body before he started to jump up and down, waving his arms. However, when he tried to jump for their attention, Tony stumbled and fell to his knees in the sand. For a split second, Tony felt panicked that the helicopter would miss him, but when he saw that it was about to land a few feet away, the sand kicking up into his face, Tony gave a dopey smile and put two fingers up.

As he stood up again, his muscles protesting all the way, Tony came face to face with Rhodey. Tony's heart soared at the sight of his friend and he practically threw himself into Rhodey's chest, brining him in for a desperate hug.

"How was the fun-vee?" Rhodey joked as he smiled brightly at his friend, before he brought Tony back into his chest, not mentioning anything when he felt the wetness of Tony's tears seep through to his shirt, "Next time, you ride with me." he ordered sternly as he squeezed Tony to his chest tightly.

Tony felt a thrill of thankfulness as he clutched at Rhodey's clothes, never wanting to let go. A soft mantra in his head repeating, "I'm going home." as he nodded his head at Rhodey's request and tearfully laughed at his friend's overprotectiveness.

He was finally going home.

_Home_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the Hungarian was:  
> Igen? Azért vagyunk itt! - Yes? We are here!  
> Mit csinálsz? - What are you doing?  
> Semmi sem! - Nothing!  
> Thanks for reading and thank you for all the patience!  
> Hope you like it!


	9. Reaching safety

After the joy and relief of being saved from the unyielding elements, Tony could only sit there. Silently.

He'd been overjoyed when he finally got to hug Rhodey again, something he didn't think he'd be able to do ever again. There were lots of things he didn't think he'd be able to do again while he was in those godforsaken caves but when Rhodey had tried to lead him to the helicopter, a firm arm around his shoulder. Secure and comforting in every way. Tony stopped, frozen like a statue. When Rhodey had looked back at him, it was with such concern that Tony felt like he didn't deserve it; Tony didn't deserve the concern because Tony had survived... But his friend hadn't...

As a result, Tony had pushed himself away from his friend and walked towards Yinsen's body, refusing to leave him behind to swelter in her heat of the desert, refusing to abandon another mutant. Tony had only managed to calm himself down when he noticed that some grains of sand had started to hover, his power collecting the grains in his uncontrolled emotions. Thank god that everyone was too focused on him to notice... After that, he allowed Rhodey's team to take Yinsen's body and cover him. Tony knew he would be asked about Yinsen at a later date...

Right now, he was waiting for his Doctor to enter through the doors, the helicopter having taken him to an army base in Afghanistan, where he would see a Doctor and assess any injuries. Not that Tony didn't fight against seeing one, of course. Not by any circumstances did Tony want a... Human Doctor near him. And as bad as that sounded, Tony just felt that way, felt like he wanted to be around his own kind and be himself, instead of around those he was concealing himself from. 

Now that he was free of that horrible hell with suppressors around every corner, Tony's abilities seemed heightened, all of his suppressed powers coming to the surface, restless after all that time in being forced under. It was hard. It also didn't help that Tony was so young, he was still called a 'kid' by some people; the older soldiers at the base calling him that when they talked to him, or the few that talked to him anyway...

Leaning back into the stuffed cushions of the bed he sat on, feet dangling childishly over the high edge, Tony couldn't help but groan, his eyes flickering closed in satisfaction as his back practically melted into the cool, smooth wall at his back - after sleeping against rocky wall and in splintered wooden chairs for... however long, one could enjoy the simple comforts of a usually uncomfortable medical bed. Tony knew he'd be purring like crazy right now if he wasn't trying to restrain himself and keep a grip on his powers.

Honestly, how could so much crap happen to someone, who hasn't even reached thirty years of age?

Just then, the heavy door opened, closing with a resounding click that was so close to sounding like the click of those damn metal doors - like the one that Howard slammed shut, and like the one that the terrorists shut as well.

Suddenly, Tony mouth was dry, making it feel like his throat was like sandpaper, two abrasive surfaces rubbing against one another as he tried to swallow. Intensely, Tony eyes were trained on the door, the heavy door that was now firmly closed, shutting the strange man in with him. Trapping him. They were going to hurt him! They were going to kill hi-

"-ark. Mr. Stark," the voice sliced through his haze of thought, making his eyes flicker to the woman doctor; a woman of around the age of thirty, give or take, strawberry blonde hair in a silky bun and a white coat over her professional clothing. The woman looked at him with sparkling brown eyes that were crinkled with concern as she looked at him, "Mr. Stark, are you okay?" she asked.

Wetting his lips nervously, Tony eyed the shut door once more before he looked at the doctor, a strained smile in place as he nodded, "I'm fine."

At that, the woman nodded and all traces of concern were wiped away as her full lips quirked into a flirtatious smile, her eyes becoming hooded as she leaned closer to Tony, so close that the loose strands of her hair brushed teasingly at the bridge of his nose, "Alright then, Mr. Stark," she practically purred at him, "I need to ask you a few questions-"

"Get out."

"Wh-What?" came the stuttered surprise from the woman as she stepped away from him, obviously expecting him to have fallen under her charms and extract information from him. Would the superiors really sink _this low_ as to try and extract information out of him when he was this mentally unstable? In this method?

"I find this extremely _unprofessional_ after my time in captivity where I was _tortured_ into submission and in the time that I escaped, I watched my fellow captive, who saved my life, die in my arms. I've got several open wounds, including a _bullet_ wound that is _still_ in my shoulder, which I can feel now that all the adrenaline has left my system. I am not happy, nor interested in this game of 'seduce the information out of the mentally and physically unstable victim'. So, I will kindly ask you again to g _et out_ before I _throw you out_." he gave a fake smile to the woman, who then proceeded to look offended and walk out of the room briskly, leaving the door wide open. At seeing the open door, Tony let out a sigh of relief.

He then looked up, thanking all holy that possibly existed that the daft woman didn't look up, as the light above him was glowing impossibly bright - as were many others no doubt. Taking a deep breath, Tony closed to eyes once again and calmed himself down. He just needed to be calm. Needed to be calm for just a little longer...

It was several more minutes before another Doctor entered the room, Rhodey trailing behind him. As he closed the door, Tony didn't feel the same effects as last time, eyes only trained on Rhodey's slightly disappointed expression that was aimed in Tony's direction.

Instantly, Tony bristled, "What?" he snapped quickly, eyes narrowed, closing his fists tightly when he felt his human nails grow into claws, cutting deeply into his palms, but he ignored it. Was his friend going to try and get information out of him too? Was he going to try and lock him up? He was a Human after- No. Stop. Slowly, Tony took a deep breath, letting his eyes slide close as he tried to release his anger, slowly retracting his claws and wiping the blood subtly on his already blood stained clothes. This wasn't on Rhodey. Rhodey is a friend. He's always been a friend.

"Tones," came his friends careful and gentle voice, a warm hand suddenly appearing on his shoulder, making Tony flinch from the touch. Tony opened his eyes in just enough time to catch Rhodey retracting his hand away from him, like he'd been burnt, but didn't step away from his friend, "Are you okay?"

Ignoring the Doctor in the room, Tony tried to nod his head, but as he did so, his throat contracted and he suddenly felt like he was dying. Completely and truly dying in his silence. As a ragged sob ripped out of his throat, eyes watering and leaking hot, salty tears down his cheeks, Tony finally shook his head, "No," his voice cracked, as he looked down, unable to meet his friend's eyes, "I'm not okay."

He heard Rhodey mutter something to the Doctor before the stranger left, the heavy door echoing after him, leaving him with Rhodey.

Silently, he noted that Rhodey sat next to him, looking awkward and strangely out of place as he climbed onto the hospital bed with him, the paper beneath him wrinkling and tearing slightly as he tried to get comfortable next to Tony.

When all movements stopped, Tony couldn't help but release a bitter laugh as he turned to look at Rhodey from the corner of his eye, "I must seem like such a dumb kid right now... I bet you never thought you'd see the day when your friend was this... Pathetic."

"No, Tones," Rhodes reached out a hand, letting it hover over his shoulder, close enough for Tony to feel the warmth but not close enough that they were touching. Tony leaned into the touch, smiling at how clever his friend was in picking that up - in another life, he would have been a great therapist, or some kind of psychiatric Doctor, "You're not pathetic. You're anything but. To have survived what you have and still come out on top, to come out alive, that's a miracle all in itself." they sat there for what felt like ages, Rhodey next to him, looking at him with genuine concern, and Tony not even able to express anything more than letting Rhodey touch his shoulder. "What did that Lady Doctor do, Tones?"

"She was trying to seduce answers out of me, so I told her to get out." Tony shrugged. In all honesty, he was used to it. Before he hired Pepper, all of Tony's PAs had wanted something, money, sex, five minutes of fame. Business people wanting deals and a bit of his fortune, twisting poisonous words to seem like flowers rainbows. Reporters wanting the juiciest of stores, willing to rip, shred and bare you to the world all in favour of a few lines in their papers. Everyone wanted something and Tony only found himself safe around his mutant family and his friends, although he was second-guessing the intentions of his Human friends now...

Looking over at the Colonel, Tony couldn't stop a smirk from forming when he saw a look of murderous anger in his eyes, an expression Tony knew well from all those times in public and a reporter was being extra spiteful to Tony for no real reason. Well, looks like Tony's doubts about Rhodey's loyalties were immediately dismissed.

"I'll have a talk with my superiors about that..." he muttered darkly, but instantly brightened when Tony gave a soft laugh, patting the soldier on the back.

"No need," Tony shrugged, "I'm sure they'll get the message to not do it again when she reports back to them."

Rhodey sighed, nudging Tony's shoulder lightly with his own, eyes searching to make sure he didn't flinch at the small contact, "Never a dull moment for you, Tones. Can't even catch a break."

"Nope." Tony popped the 'p' at the end, "Never a dull moment in the tragic life of billionaire Tony Stark." he nodded sarcastically. Rhodes was silent after that, the two friends letting their thoughts delve into nothingness as they stared on, Rhodes looking on with guilt and Tony looking on with a tiredness of a thousand life-times. Both of them knew what Tony meant. People would see the word 'billionaire' and they expect all other experiences and nightmares to be extinguished, like his money would solve everything for him. They both knew that when he came out into the public light once again, nothing would have changed, no sympathy, no break, no care...

For not the first time in his short life, Tony couldn't help but place the Human's around him in the category in which he held Howard... Monsters in Human skin...

 

\----------

 

Groaning internally, Tony couldn't help but be frustrated as he shifted in his chair once more, his arm restrained in a sling around his neck as the boring man in front of him droned on about... something. Tony wasn't really sure what it was. Nor did he really care.

It felt like hours had passed and he was still in this godforsaken room, with the most boring-sounding man on the planet!

After Tony and Rhodey had their little moment of heart to heart, the Doctor practically came steam-rolling back in with a stern face, not listening to Tony's protests about being okay and that he didn't need any anaesthetics - Rhodey sitting by his side the whole time. Tony was sure that Rhodey would have felt the room if they'd been closer in age, but Tony was barely 23 and so, Rhodey was being the overprotective Mamma-Bear that he was. After the Doctor had fixed everything up that Tony would allow of him (under no circumstances was Tony taking off his shirt for them to see the reactor), Tony's arm was put in a sling due to the bullet wound that must have got between the joints of his bulky escape armour at one point, and then was escorted out of the room.

Then, he was quickly stuffed into a room, an iron and steamed suit hanging from a hook, and he begrudgingly got dressed out of his dirtied rags. As he unwrapped the discoloured materials from his torso, Tony couldn't help but frown as he took in the blue light embedded into his chest. Now, with a proper reflection, Tony could see the extent of the damage that was done to him. With a deep breath, Tony turned around and faced the looking glass, his breath whooshing out of him in a half-choked off sob as he looked at himself. Only one word could come to mind as he looked at himself in the mirror: mangled.

Scars stretched over his chest like a spider's web, jagged and angry, some going bellow his ribs, some going over his shoulder, the little blue light being the epicentre of all of it. The blue light only made it look worse, casting shadows and highlighting the worst of the scars, reflecting off of shiny, scarred skin. He could easily tell the difference between the fresh scars and the old scars. The fresh scars along his torso were red and slightly puffy, looking like the personification of agitation; the old scars, scars he'd gotten from Howard, were white lined, or a dulled red, ranging at different seizes and all over his body, while the newer were large and overlapping one another, only centred around his chest.

Turning his back to the mirror, unwilling to see anymore damage, Tony decided to have a shower - the thought of a bath made him physically sick - and wash away the dirt of the desert, the cave and three months of no warm showers. His hair was greasy, dirt clung to him like a second skin and it took about an hour or so before Tony was able to step out of the shower, looking relatively clean.

He frowned at his steamed reflection before he shook his head, dismissing his thoughts; it didn't matter if he didn't _feel_ clean, he only had to _look_ it.

When his clothes were on and he was presentable for the first time in three months (he'd wrapped up his arc reactor under his shirt), Tony was then hustled into the room he was in now. The room itself was like an office, like his office at work, before he changed it to suit himself more. It was cold and sparse, very few things sat on the great darkly painted desk and the walls were bare of anything other than a few framed certificates hanging on the wall. The man before him was old, hair long since turned white and a moustache that reminded him of Howard (there was a reason why he was so against growing one, even if it would make him look older), stern blue eyes priced Tony's soul as he sat in his comfy chair, straight-backed and hands folded neatly before him.

From this, Tony knew that this was not a man that Tony would like.

"Mr. Stark," the man continued gruffly from behind his moustache. Tony looked up, finally deciding to pay attention out of common courtesy, "My name is General Ross and I'm here to speak about your escape from the terrorists, called the Ten Rings."

"I know what they're called," Tony spoke up immediately, catching the man's slight glare at being interrupted, distain clear in his stern expression before it was washed blank - yeah, he really wasn't going to like this guy. "What does it matter? I was kidnapped. I escaped. End of story." Tony continued, tone getting unconsciously frostier.

"We need to know certain things, Mr. Stark. Things like: why our squad was killed by missiles with your name on it, and why the army has never seen anything like it? Or how you got away exactly, and what happened in the three moths you were kidnapped? Who was that body you brought back with you? We need to know these things. Now." the General practically growled, having no patience for the recently rescued and traumatised man before him.

There was a cold silence for a time, both of them glaring at one another - chilling blue eyes glaring heatedly into bright, fiery hazel (Tony doing everything he could to stop his eyes from turning green along with keeping his anger under control). Finally, Tony spoke, his voice as vacant of any emotion as ever, "The body I brought with me is a man named Ho Yinsen, a Doctor from Gulmira. He was a fellow captive and he saved my life. He got shot when we were escaping. I..." Tony looked away, shame building within him at admitting his failure, "I couldn't find it in myself to leave him behind with _scam_ , so I carried him out."

The General didn't look impressed, if anything, he looked like the Devil could care more than him about how Yinsen died protecting Tony to the very end. "And how you escaped?" he asked, a lilt of impatience in his voice, making Tony glare at him, making Tony struggle to keep his powers buried deep within him and not risk exposing himself.

"I blew it up." Tony grit out, "We put explosives on the doors to get out. Then, we fought our way out, Yinsen got hit in the process before I got outside. They had dozens, upon dozens of missiles and explosives and I put that on a timer. I only got the aftershock but it was quite the explosion. I wouldn't be surprised if they all died in it. In fact, I think I'd feel quite proud about that, don't you think, General Ross?" Tony asked pleasantly, his voice laced with a deadly poison. Which, Tony was happy to see, made the man shudder in minute fear.

"As for the weapons," Tony continued, noticing that General Ross seemed more interested in that, than anything else. Suddenly his obsessive greed increased tenfold, coming off of the man in waves, making Tony want to gag, "Everyone knows that I shut down the weapons department a long time ago - save for the handguns and protection equipment. I got rid of everything that my father was working on. So, I have no idea how they got all of that fire power. If anything, they could just be missiles from Hammer Tech with my father's name on the side of it. My father was notorious for making his weapons, perhaps the terrorists thought that they could recreate a sense of fear that his weapons used to." Tony observed coolly, eyes flickering over the General, curious to see what expression the man would make with the frustration that was currently wafting over him.

Predictably, General Ross' reaction was akin to sucking on a lemon, obviously having hoped for some other results other than what Tony gave. Perhaps he was hoping that Tony would admit to making missiles and selling under the table? With that, the General could either put him away for good, or he could blackmail Tony into making those weapons for the American military, or blackmail him into making something else for the General's own greed - something that left a sour taste in the back of Tony's throat.

"Is that all?" Tony asked, sickly sweet, "I would like to get home soon. Something I haven't been to in _three_ months." Tony pressed, voice suddenly turning as hard as nails as he narrowed his eyes at the General that Tony had no wish to be around any longer.

There was a stony silence between them, a battle of glares and wills before General Ross huffed and grumbled, "You may leave." he dismissed, probably wanting to feel a bit more in power over Tony after the disaster of a meeting that Tony had taken full control over.

Nodding with cold eyes, Tony stood from the chair and turned to leave, but stopped at the door, resting his hand on the chilling bite of the metal handle. Looking over his shoulder, Tony gave a pleasantly fake smile, "FYI, General. Next time you want to ask to see me for an interrogation under false pretence, things will not end well for you. Also," Tony added, stealing the General's voice from under him, the man red-faced with anger at being so blatantly threatened, "It's unprofessional to try and seduce answers out of a recently escaped hostage using a pretty face. I don't swing that way anyway. Good day." he nodded curtly to the General, who was still red-faced and speechless.

When the door shut and Tony was speeding down the corridor, he could barely hold it in. He could feel his powers pressing on his skin, making it feel too tight for his body, like he was about to completely explode, like he did at the terrorists' base. Feeling strung tighter than a bow, Tony felt like crying with the contained power, that felt more like a dam about to completely collapse, and if he didn't already know that it was only due to having his powers suppressed for three months and his over emotional state, he would have thought that he was a new student at Charles' school.

The lights overhead glowed brighter, his energy reaching out for a source of relief, he could feel the walls trembling slightly with every step, foreign emotions battered against his own, making his anger and frustration even more tangible.

Trembling and panting, Tony quickly found a random broom closet and slipped in, immediately falling to the floor as he gripped at the shelves with a white-knuckled grip, crying silent tears as he felt himself being rubbed raw with the struggle of not exploding the base that Rhodey was currently on.

Just when he felt like his grip was about to slip, Tony heard a voice, a calm and soothing voice that he'd been so desperate to hear for _three fucking months_ , " _Tony,_ " the voice beckoned, " _Tony calm down. You're fine. You're safe. You need to calm down now, or a lot of innocent people are going to be hurt. Calm down._ "

Tony shook his head, gritting his teeth as tears soaked his face, emotions of desperation, wanting, longing, he felt like he was beginning to broadcast his emotions. God, he really hoped he wasn't...

" _I-I can't!_ " he practically screamed in his head, screwing his eyes shut with the effort, " _Charles... Charles. Help. Please help. I can't._ " he gasped, the bulb above him blowing out with his too strong energy serge.

" _Everything is fine Tony. Everyone is waiting for you. Everyone misses you. You just need to wait a little longer before you're back and we can help you in every way that we can. It's nearly over, Tony. I promise. So please. Calm down. Breath. Take control. Control you're powers Tony._ " came the calm masculine voice, so full of certainty and belief that Tony started to do what he said, breathing deeply and steadily, his lungs shaky with each exhale and inhale. Slowly, but surely, Tony was beginning to take back control, his overwhelming powers forced back completely under the surface.

Still trembling at the close call, _far too close_ , Tony stood on shaky legs and wiped the tears from his face, not relinquishing his hold on the shelf just yet, too afraid to let go...

" _That's it, Tony. You're doing very well._ " the voice softly praised.

Tony spat out a bitter breathy laugh, letting his vice like grip on the side fall as he leaned against the wall with deep controlled breathes, " _Must bring back a lot of memories from the good ol' days, huh?_ " he thought back. He felt a small amusement mixed with grief on the other side of the mind link, making Tony pause. Tony couldn't even begin to think how haggard the professor and the others would have been when he went missing and they couldn't even find him until Tony broke out of the cave that suppressed his powers (and Xavier's powers of finding him, most likely). One could only imagine how worried and helpless they would have felt... " _It's good to hear your voice, professor. Especially after so long..._ "

There was a small pause where Tony could feel the fondness over the mind link and Xavier replied, " _You're coming home soon and, if I were you, I'd prepare myself for the onslaught of Ororo and Jean. They've been quite worried about you._ "

Suddenly, Tony felt his heart freeze for a split second before he relaxed against the wall, slumping in defeat as he let his face fall into his hands , "Oh no!" he groaned out loud, returning to the mind link with Xavier, " _Is it too late to still pretend to be kidnapped or do they know already?_ "

" _They know._ "

" _Damn._ " Tony hissed in his head and out loud, scowling at the ceiling when he heard the professor's subtle laughter over the link.

" _I would hurry home if I were you, before they go on an illegal manhunt in the base you're staying at._ "

" _Thanks for the tip..._ " Tony groaned out sarcastically, " _God, they're never going to let me out of their sights again._ " Although, he couldn't help the slight smile that twitched at his lips at the thought of the mothering duo that nurtured his teenage-hood with iron fists. " _Thanks for the heads up, Prof._ " he bid as a goodbye, both of them  knowing that his thanks went more deeper than for warning him about the others' worrying.

" _It's good to have you back Tony._ " Charles' voice rung softly in Tony's head, making his chest seem lighter, even with the heavy metal contraption ceiled within it, before cutting off the mind link.

Breathing easier, Tony couldn't remove the smile from his face as he stepped out of the cupboard and continued walking down the hall and to where he knew Rhodey was waiting for him.

As soon as the younger leant on the door frame, looking like a cat that ate the canary, Rhodes sent him a suspicious look, "You didn't kill him did you?" Rhodes asked, referring to the General that Tony had left red-faced in his office - though he couldn't quite keep the grin from his face. Nearly everyone had heard the General's tantrum when Tony had left the office, leaving many other soldiers smiling at the display, almost everyone in the base hated Ross with a passion.

"Now why would I do that, Honey Bear!" Tony grinned wider at his human friend, finally feeling a little bit like himself again after his much-needed talk with the professor. He gestured his head and Rhodes got up to join him, both of them walking down the corridor together, the sounds of their steps matching one another perfectly.

"Why are you suddenly so happy?" Rhodes asked, curious about his friend's 180 turn in attitude.

Tony didn't even miss a beat, "I finally got a release after three months of building sexual frustration." he stated like it was a knowledgeable fact, making Rhodes choke on his spit, the older man's feelings a mix of amused and disturbed making Tony chuckle evilly. Grinning, Tony couldn't help but bat his long eyelashes at his friend, "I'm only 23 you know." making Rhodey laugh as he shook his head, both of them carrying on with their walk.

There was a comfortable silence between the two before Rhodes spoke up again, "Where we going?" a bright flash of curiosity colouring Tony's empathy, making Tony more relaxed at the familiarity of the person's emotions he was feeling.

Tony only raised an incredulous eyebrow at his older friend, his smile still in place, "Home, of course."


End file.
